Cerebellar nuclei

Cerebellum deep cerebellar nuclei other cerebellar areas ... 

Cerebral cortex (layer I-VI, selected interneurons and principal cells) hippocampus (selected interneurons and principal cells) pallidum striatum (interneurons) thalamic relay nuclei olfactory bulb (mitral cells and interneurons) cerebellum (Purkinje cells and granule cells) deep cerebellar nuclei amygdala basal forebrain substantia nigra pars reticulata inferior colliculus brainstem... 

Gardette R, Krupa M, Crepel F Differential effects of serotonin on the spontaneous discharge and on the excitatory amino acid-induced responses of deep cerebellar nuclei neurones in rat cerebellar slices. Neuroscience 23 491-500, 1987... 

The parallel fibers receive input from many sources via a complex series of mossy fibers and granule cells and influence the firing of the Punkinje cells. The output from the Purkinje cells is entirely inhibitory. It is transmitted via synapses in the cerebellar nuclei to neurons that lead back to the cerebral cortex, into the thalamus, and down the spinal cord.411 The pathway to the cortex completes an inhibitory feedback loop, of which there are many in the nervous system. For details see Llinas404 and Nicholls.149... 

Thalamus Brainstem Cerebellar nuclei Glial cells... 

Ikai et al. (1992) reported that the VTA sends projections to the rat cerebellar cortex and deep cerebellar nuclei bilaterally, with a slight contralateral predominance. In this study, dopaminergic efferents of the A10 cell group were reported to reach mainly the granule cell layer of the cerebellar cortex in the lateral portion of the hemispheres, with additional input to the Purkinje cell layer, but sparing the molecular layer. The deep cerebellar nuclei, and in particular the lateral nucleus, were instead found to receive inputs from nondopaminergic cells of the VTA, reciprocating projections to the VTA bilaterally and with a contralateral predominance. 

Ikai Y, Takada M, Shinonaga Y, Mizuno N (1992) Dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area of the rat project, respectively, to the cerebellar cortex and deep cerebellar nuclei. Neuroscience 57 719-728. 

The identification of lobules, fissures, and deep cerebellar nuclei is based on the work of Voogd (1995). 

Purkinje neurons A single row of aligned neurons that reside in the cerebellar cortex that serves as the sole inhibitory output neuron of the cerebellar cortex to the deep cerebellar nuclei. 

Fig. 5. Drawing of the brainstem depicting neurons and pathways likely to use glutamate as a neurotransmitter. 1 = primary afferent inputs to the dorsal column nuclei (a), the solitary tract nucleus (b), and the cochlear nucleus (c) 2 = granule cell/parallel fibers in the dorsal cochlear nucleus 3 = calyces of Held in the medial nucleus of the trapezoid body 4 = cochlear nucleus inputs to the lateral superior olive 5 = input to the oculomotor nucleus from the ventral lateral vestibular nucleus 6 = input to the oculomotor nucleus from the abducens nucleus 7 = corticocollieular inputs 8 = spinal input to the periaqueductal gray 9 = inputs to the red nucleus and pontine nuclei from the cerebellar nuclei. For further details, see Section 3.3.

Similar to other projections from the cerebellar nuclei (except those to the inferior olive which are GABAergic), terminals of cerebellar origin in the red nucleus are enriched in Glu (Schwarz and Schmitz, 1997 Fig. 5). Enrichment of Glu has also been detected in terminals in the oculomotor nucleus originating from the abducens and ventral lateral vestibular nuclei (Nguyen and Spencer, 1999 Fig. 5). 

Fig. 7. Schematic drawing of a transverse section through the forebrain depicting pathways likely to use glutamate as a neurotransmitter. I = principal subcortical afferents to the thalamus from. somatosensory relay nuclei and the spinal cord (a), cerebellar nuclei (h). and retina (c) 2 = intrinsic neurons and retinal inputs to the hypothalamus 3 = thalamocortical inputs 4 = corticothalamic inputs 5 = cortical inputs to the basal ganglia and other areas in the brainstem and spinal cord 6 = associational and commi.ssural connections in the cerebral cortex. For further details, see Sections 3.5-3.9.

The cerebellar nuclei express mainly the NRl, NR2A and NR2D subunit genes (Watanabe et al., 1994). The NR3A gene is expressed at low levels in the adult cerebellum (cell types unknown) by RT-PCR, the NR3-L splice version predominates (Sun et al., 1998). 

Abbreviations Al = primary auditory area ac = anterior commissure Acc = accumbens nucleus AON = anterior olfactory nucleus BF = barrel field BLA = basolateral nucleus of the amygdala CAl = cornu ammonis 1 CA3 = cornu ammonis 3 cc = corpus callosum Cg = cingulate area CPu = caudate-putamen DCb = deep cerebellar nuclei DCo = dorsal cochlear nucleus DG = dentate gyrus DMV = dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve ECu = external cuneate nucleus EP = external plexiform layer ER = entorhinal cortex f = fornix Fa = facial nucleus fa = facial nerve fr = fasciculus retroflexus G1 = glomerular layer GPe = (external segment of the)... 

Monaghan PL, Beitz AJ, Larson AA, Altschuler RA, Madl JE, Mullett MA (1986) Immunocytochemical localization of glutamate-, glutaminase- and aspartate aminotransferase-like immunoreactivity in the rat deep cerebellar nuclei. Brain Res 363 364-370. 

Bloch-Gallego E, Causeret F, Ezan F, Backer S, Hidalgo-Sanchez M. (2005) Development of pre-cerebellar nuclei instructive factors and intracellular mediators in neuronal migration, survival and axon pathfinding. Brain Reviews 49 253-266. 

Fink AJ, Englund C, Daza RA, Pham D, Lau C, Nivison M, Kowalczyk T, Hevner RF (2006) Development of the deep cerebellar nuclei transcription factors and cell migration from the rhombic lip. J Neurosci 26 3066-3076. 

Cerebellar abnormalities may result in disturbances in a neural network involved in the motivation and organization of emotion. Abnormalities in the cerebellar nuclei may play a role in the affective disturbance, abnormal language development, and inappropriate social and psychological behaviors in autism. 

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