| Deep cerebellar nuclei | |
| Latin: | nuclei cerebelli |
| Ispartof: | Cerebellum |
| Components: | Dentate nucleus, Emboliform nucleus, Fastigial nucleus, Globose nucleus |
| Artery: | Superior cerebellar |
There are four paired deep cerebellar nuclei embedded in the white matter of the medullary centre. The nuclei are the fastigial, globose, emboliform, and dentate nuclei.
These nuclei receive inhibitory (GABAergic) inputs from Purkinje cells in the cerebellar cortex and excitatory (glutamatergic) inputs from mossy fiber and climbing fiber pathways. Most output fibers of the cerebellum originate from these nuclei. One exception is that fibers from the flocculonodular lobe synapse directly on vestibular nuclei without first passing through the deep cerebellar nuclei. The vestibular nuclei in the brainstem are analogous structures to the deep nuclei, since they receive both mossy fiber and Purkinje cell inputs.[1]
From lateral to medial, the four deep cerebellar nuclei are the dentate, emboliform, globose, and fastigial. Some animals, including humans, do not have distinct emboliform and globose nuclei, instead having a single, fused interposed nucleus. In animals with distinct emboliform and globose nuclei, the term interposed nucleus is often used to refer collectively to these two nuclei.
In general, each pair of deep nuclei is associated with a corresponding region of cerebellar surface anatomy.
These structural relationships are generally maintained in the neuronal connections between the nuclei and associated cerebellar cortex,