The nucleus reuniens is a region of the thalamic

midline nuclear group The midline nuclear group (or midline thalamic nuclei) is a region of the thalamus consisting of the following nuclei: * paraventricular nucleus of thalamus (''nucleus paraventricularis thalami'') - not to be confused with paraventricular nucleus ...

. In the human brain, it is located in the

interthalamic adhesion The interthalamic adhesion (also known as the intermediate mass or middle commissure) is a flattened band of tissue that connects both parts of the thalamus at their medial surfaces. The medial surfaces form the upper part of the lateral wall to t ...

(''massa intermedia''). The nucleus reuniens receives afferent input from a large number of structures, mainly from

limbic The limbic system, also known as the paleomammalian cortex, is a set of brain structures located on both sides of the thalamus, immediately beneath the medial temporal lobe of the cerebrum primarily in the forebrain.Schacter, Daniel L. 2012. ''Ps ...

and limbic-associated structures. It sends projections to the medial

prefrontal cortex In mammalian brain anatomy, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) covers the front part of the frontal lobe of the cerebral cortex. The PFC contains the Brodmann areas BA8, BA9, BA10, BA11, BA12, BA13, BA14, BA24, BA25, BA32, BA44, BA45, BA46 ...

, the

hippocampus The hippocampus (via Latin from Greek , ' seahorse') is a major component of the brain of humans and other vertebrates. Humans and other mammals have two hippocampi, one in each side of the brain. The hippocampus is part of the limbic system, ...

, perirhinal cortex, and

entorhinal cortex The entorhinal cortex (EC) is an area of the brain's allocortex, located in the medial temporal lobe, whose functions include being a widespread network hub for memory, navigation, and the perception of time.Integrating time from experience in the ...

, although there exist sparse connections to many other afferent structures as well. The unique medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampal connectivity allows reuniens to regulate neural traffic in this cortical network related to changes in an organism's attentiveness, making reuniens critical to

associative learning Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some kind of l ...

, memory retrieval, memory generalization, spatial route planning, and resilience to stress.

References

Thalamic nuclei {{Neuroanatomy-stub