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olfactory tubercle

A small, oval area at the base of the cerebral hemisphere, between the diverging medial and lateral olfactory striae, in the anteromedial part of the anterior perforated substance; it is formed by a small area of allocortex characterised by the presence of the islands of Calleja. Corresponding to a much more prominent structure in nonprimate mammals (especially rodents and insectivores), the olfactory tubercle receives fibres from the olfactory bulb by way of the intermediate olfactory stria; it has efferent connections with the hypothalamus and the mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus.

Synonym: tuberculum olfactorium.