A chronic alcoholic presents with anterograde amnesia and striking confabulation. MRI shows haemorrhagic necrosis of the mammillary bodies and walls of the third ventricle. Which limbic pathway has been interrupted to produce this memory deficit?

• A Stria terminalis from amygdala to hypothalamus
• B Perforant pathway from entorhinal cortex to dentate gyrus
• C Uncinate fasciculus connecting temporal and frontal lobes
• D Fornix projections from hippocampus to mammillary bodies ✓

Explanation

Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome damages the mammillary bodies, which receive hippocampal output through the fornix within the Papez circuit. Interruption of this output prevents transfer of new information into long-term storage, producing anterograde amnesia with confabulation. The perforant pathway connects entorhinal cortex to the dentate gyrus within the hippocampal formation itself, and the stria terminalis mediates amygdala autonomic outputs, not declarative memory.

Reference: Robbins and Cotran Pathologic Basis of Disease, 10th ed.

High-yield for: NEET PGINI-CETNExTFMGEUSMLEPLABMRCP

Written and medically reviewed by the StethoPrep medical team.