The Cortico-Limbo-Thalamo-Cortical Circuits: An Update to the Original Papez Circuit of the Human Limbic System

• Published in: Brain topography Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 371 - 389
• Main Authors: Kamali, Arash, Milosavljevic, Sofia, Gandhi, Anusha, Lano, Kinsey R., Shobeiri, Parnian, Sherbaf, Farzaneh Ghazi, Sair, Haris I., Riascos, Roy F., Hasan, Khader M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.05.2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Amygdala; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brain; Circuits; Cortex (cingulate); Cortex (entorhinal); Cortex (temporal); Emotions; Gyrus Cinguli; Hippocampus; Humans; Hypothalamus; Limbic system; Limbic System - diagnostic imaging; Medical schools; Neural Pathways; Neurology; Neurosciences; Parahippocampal gyrus; Prefrontal cortex; Psychiatry; Radiation; Review; Thalamus; Topography; Diffusion-weighted imaging; White matter connections; Papez circuit; Brain networks; Limbic; Tractography
• ISSN: 0896-0267; 1573-6792; 1573-6792
• DOI: 10.1007/s10548-023-00955-y

The Papez circuit, first proposed by James Papez in 1937, is a circuit believed to control memory and emotions, composed of the cingulate cortex, entorhinal cortex, parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, hypothalamus, and thalamus. Pursuant to James Papez, Paul Yakovlev and Paul MacLean incorporated the prefrontal/orbitofrontal cortex, septum, amygdalae, and anterior temporal lobes into the limbic system. Over the past few years, diffusion-weighted tractography techniques revealed additional limbic fiber connectivity, which incorporates multiple circuits to the already known complex limbic network. In the current review, we aimed to comprehensively summarize the anatomy of the limbic system and elaborate on the anatomical connectivity of the limbic circuits based on the published literature as an update to the original Papez circuit.