Abbreviation

CNU

Species

Rat

Description of part

In mammals, lateral and medial ventricular ridges (ganglionic eminences) develop into the classical striatum and pallidum, respectively (see Alvarez-Bolado and Swanson 1996 for review). To simplify endbrain organization, we have placed all regions that appear to develop from the ventricular ridges into either the pallidum or striatum, broadly defined. In general, cortex projects to striatum (and sometimes pallidum) via excitatory inputs, striatum projects to pallidum via inhibitory inputs, and both striatum and pallidum generate inhibitory descending projections (Swanson 2000c; 2003a).

Part type

gray matter

Nomenclature

Swanson-2004

Endorsement

The approach used by the collator Mihail Bota is not endorsed by the author of the nomenclature.

Reference

Cerebral nuclei - Mouse - Dong-2007

Cerebral nuclei ( CNU ; Swanson, 2000 ) : The ventral (Schulze, 1893) topographic division of the endbrain (Kuhlenbeck, 1927), with a basically nonlaminated architecture; the dorsal (Barclay, 1803) division is the cerebral cortex (Bauhin, 1605). The general outlines of the cerebral nuclei were described for macrodissected adult humans by Bartholin (1651; see English translation 1662, p. 141), and a basic distinction during embryogenesis between cerebral cortex and cerebral nuclei was stressed by Baer (1837) and Reichert (1859-1861). The most common synonym today for cerebral nuclei, which was clearly defined by Swanson (2000, p. 117; 2004, pp. 166-170), is basal ganglia (Warwick & Williams, 1973); also see ganglion (Galen, c173). Other synonyms include corpus striatum (Willis, 1664), cerebral ganglia (Reil, 1809), and basal nuclei (Warwick & Williams, 1973). Cerebral nuclei (Swanson, 2000) is preferred to the synonym basal nuclei (Warwick & Williams, 1973) because it pairs naturally with cerebral cortex (Bauhin, 1605).