Term: Substantia nigra compact part

Definition: Danner and Pfister 1982; Björklund and Lindvall 1984. While a lateral part of the SN has been mentioned in the literature (see Gillilan 1943; Hanaway et al. 1970), more recent work has provided little reason to separate it from the compact part (see Björklund and Lindvall 1984). It should be noted that the ventral tegmental area has been included in the behavior control column of the motor system (below), although the dopaminergic cell population embedded within it is as much a part of the behavioral state system as the compact part of the substantia nigra (Swanson 2003a).

Nomenclature: Swanson-2004