The arterial blood supply to the hypothalamus and pituitary gland.
Most of the blood supply to the hypothalamus and pituitary arises from the internal cartoid artery or its branches. The posterior lobe of the pituitary is supplied by the inferior hypophysial artery (IH) and the artery of the trabecula (T), while the anterior lobe is supplied indirectly via the hypophysial portal vessels (HPV). Branches from the circle of Willis supply the hypothalamus, and the paraventricular and supraoptic nuclei in particular are served by branches from the suprahypophysial (SH), the anterior communicating (A Com), the anterior cerebral (AC), the posterior communicating (P Com), and posterior cerebral (PC) arteries.
