Extensive Direct Subcortical Cerebellum-Basal Ganglia Connections in Human Brain as Revealed by Constrained Spherical Deconvolution Tractography

The connections between the cerebellum and basal ganglia were assumed to occur at the level of neocortex. However evidences from animal data have challenged this old perspective showing extensive subcortical pathways linking the cerebellum with the basal ganglia. Here we tested the hypothesis if the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in neuroanatomy 2016-03, Vol.10, p.29-29
Main Authors: Milardi, Demetrio, Arrigo, Alessandro, Anastasi, Giuseppe, Cacciola, Alberto, Marino, Silvia, Mormina, Enricomaria, Calamuneri, Alessandro, Bruschetta, Daniele, Cutroneo, Giuseppina, Trimarchi, Fabio, Quartarone, Angelo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Basal Ganglia
Brain research
Cerebellum
connectivity
Cortex
CSD
Dentate nucleus
Globus pallidus
Magnetic resonance imaging
Neuroanatomy
Neuroimaging
Neurosciences
NMR
Nuclear magnetic resonance
Substantia nigra
Subthalamic nucleus
tractography
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The connections between the cerebellum and basal ganglia were assumed to occur at the level of neocortex. However evidences from animal data have challenged this old perspective showing extensive subcortical pathways linking the cerebellum with the basal ganglia. Here we tested the hypothesis if these connections also exist between the cerebellum and basal ganglia in the human brain by using diffusion magnetic resonance imaging and tractography. Fifteen healthy subjects were analyzed by using constrained spherical deconvolution technique obtained with a 3T magnetic resonance imaging scanner. We found extensive connections running between the subthalamic nucleus and cerebellar cortex and, as novel result, we demonstrated a direct route linking the dentate nucleus to the internal globus pallidus as well as to the substantia nigra. These findings may open a new scenario on the interpretation of basal ganglia disorders.
ISSN:1662-5129
1662-5129
DOI:10.3389/fnana.2016.00029