Basic question here from a behavioral researcher: What are the major structures of the medial temporal lobe (MTL)? Can anyone link to a good diagram of these structures?
1 Answer
The MTL consists of (note that some structures overlap):
- cortical areas, which can be categorized in at least three ways:
- portions of two gyri
- entire parahippocampal gyrus
- anterior medial side of fusiform gyrus
- five named cortical areas:
- perirhinal cortex
- parahippocampal cortex (see parahippocampal gyrus)
- entorhinal cortex
- presubiculum*
- parasubiculum*
- five Brodmann areas: 27, 28, 34, 35, 36
- portions of two gyri
- hippocampus
- amygdala*
* indicates that not all literature includes this component in the MTL
I didn't find a diagram of only the MTL. The best diagrams I found were (not shown here because I don't own the copyright):
References
Brodmann, K. (1909) Vergleichende Lokalisationslehre der Grosshirnrinde in ihren Prinzipien dargestellt auf Grund des Zellenbaues. Leipzig : Johann Ambrosius Barth.
Squire, L.R., Stark, C.E.L., & Clark, R.E. (2004) The Medial Temporal Lobe. Annu. Rev. Neurosci. 27:279–306 [pdf]