Superior cerebellar peduncle

Midhrain and brainstem ventral tegmental area raphe nuclei superior cerebellar peduncle mesencephalic nucleus of trigeminal nerve substantia nigra nucleus coeruleus periaqueductal grey... 

Several types of abnormal movement are recognized. Tremor consists of a rhythmic oscillatory movement around a joint and is best characterized by its relation to activity. Tremor at rest is characteristic of parkinsonism, when it is often associated with rigidity and an impairment of voluntary activity. Tremor may occur during maintenance of sustained posture (postural tremor) or during movement (intention tremor). A conspicuous postural tremor is the cardinal feature of benign essential or familial tremor. Intention tremor occurs in patients with a lesion of the brain stem or cerebellum, especially when the superior cerebellar peduncle is involved it may also occur as a manifestation of toxicity from alcohol or certain other drugs. 

Fig. 1. Top Transverse sections through the human mesencephalon, as drawn by Theodor Meynert from preparations stained with gold and potassium chloride . Abbreviations (translated from the original legends in French) A, aqueduct Big.s., superior quadrigeminal tubercle Bri, geniculate body and its bundles Dcs, decussation of the superior cerebellar peduncle Krz.B., bundles of the anterior crossing, the X indicates the crossing L, posterior longitudinal bundle Lms, lemniscus after the decussation Pcbl, superior cerebellar...

PP, peripeduncular nucleus PR, prerubral field Reth, retroethmoid nucleus RMC, red nucleus, magnocellular RPC, red nucleus, parvocellular scp, superior cerebellar peduncle SNC, substantia nigra, compact part SNL, substantia nigra, lateral part SNR, substantia nigra, reticular part SPFPC, subparafascicular thalamic nucleus, parvocellular part SuML, supramammillary nucleus, lateral part VTA, ventral tegmental area VTM, ventral tuberomammillary nucleus ZID, zona incerta, dorsal part ZIV, zona incerta, ventral part 3, oculomotor nucleus 3n, oculomotor nerve or its root. Reproduced with permission from Paxinos and Watson (1998) and Paxinos et al. (1999). 

Blakemore WF (1973a) RemyeUnation of the superior cerebellar peduncle in the mouse following demyetination induced by feeding cuprizone. J Neurol Sci 20 73-83 Blakemore WF (1973b) Demyetination of the superior cerebellar peduncle in the mouse induced by cuprizone. J Neurol Sci 20 63-72... 

The subdivision of Weidenreich-Ogawa received strong support from the localization of the fibers in the superior cerebellar peduncle. A small medial and a large lateral portion can be distinguished in this pathway in most mammals at its exit from the central nuclei (see in Fig. 102). Experiments in cat (Verhaart, 1956 Voogd, 1964) and rat (Haroian et ah, 1981) have shown that the medial part of the superior cerebellar peduncle takes its origin from the nuclei of the caudomedial group, mainly from the ipsilateral posterior interposed nucleus, and the lateral portion from the ipsilateral anterior interposed and lateral cerebellar nucleus. 

The size of the nucleocortical cells in the cat follows the same frequency distribution as the central nuclear cells as a whole and as the neurons that could be retrogradely labelled from the thalamus (Fig. 109). Single neurons, intracellularly stained with HRP, with axons leaving the central nuclei in the superior cerebellar peduncle, were shown to emit collaterals, that could be traced to the cerebellar cortex (McCrea et al., 1978). Antidromic invasion and collision experiments (Tolbert et al., 1977, 1978a) also favoured a collateral origin of the nucleocortical fibers from projection neurons. 

GAD-immunoreactive boutons disappear from the contralateral PO, the rostral MAO and the lateral half of the ventral fold of the DAO of the rat after chronic lesions of the cerebellar nuclei or the superior cerebellar peduncle in the rat. The dorsal fold of the DAO is depleted of GAD-positive boutons after lesions extending into the lateral vestibular nucleus (Fredette and Mugnaini, 1991). Additional destruction of the vestibular nuclei results in the disappearance of GAD from the group beta but not from the medial half of the ventral fold of the DAO and the caudal MAO (Nelson and Mugnaini,... 

Mehler WR (1967) Double descending pathways originating from the superior cerebellar peduncle. An example of neural species differences. Anal. Rec., 157, 374. 

Vega JA, Cavallotti C, Mancini M, Amenta F (1994) Age-dependent changes in gp75 (low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor) immunoreactivity in the rat cerebellar cortex. Neurosci. Lett., 168, 19-22. Verhaart WJC (1956) The fibre content of the superior cerebellar peduncle in the pons and the mesencephalon. Acta Morphol. Neerl.-Scand., I, 2-8. 

In these studies a widespread distribution was observed for sstl-4 mRNAs at E17 and E18 and P5 in the telencephalon, diencephalon, mesencephalon, and metencephalon. In contrast, at El 8 sst5 mRNAs were found at very low levels only in the olfactory system and retinal neuroepithelium and the cerebral cortex. At P5 the sst5 mRNA levels had increased significantly in the cortex and this species was also seen in the anterior olfactory nuclei, lateral ventricle neuroepithelium, the CAl and CA3 area of Ammon s horn, the medial habenula, the hypothalamic arcuate and anterior nuclei, and the superior cerebellar peduncle, while it is absent from the other CNS regions (Thoss et al. 1995,1996b). 

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