The Papez circuit, implicated in memory consolidation and emotional processing, includes all of the following EXCEPT:

• A Hippocampus → fornix → mammillary bodies
• B Mammillary bodies → anterior thalamic nuclei → cingulate cortex
• C Cingulate cortex → entorhinal cortex → hippocampus
• D Amygdala → stria terminalis → bed nucleus of stria terminalis → hypothalamus ✓

Explanation

The classic Papez circuit (1937) describes a loop: hippocampus → fornix → mammillary bodies → anterior thalamic nuclei → cingulate gyrus → entorhinal cortex → back to hippocampus. All steps in options A, B and C are part of this circuit. Option D describes the amygdaloid pathway via the stria terminalis to the hypothalamus — this is part of the extended amygdala and fear-conditioning circuitry, not the Papez circuit per se.

Reference: Guyton & Hall, Textbook of Medical Physiology, 14th ed.

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