Red nucleus
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View Robab Ghorban Pour's current disclosures- Red nuclei
The red nucleus is one of the brainstem nuclei and part of the extrapyramidal system. The red nuclei are round masses of grey matter, situated within the rostral part of tegmentum of midbrain (the part between the cerebral peduncles and the quadrigeminal plate). It consists of a larger neorubrum and smaller paleorubrum.
Function
It receives afferent fibers from several locations within the diencephalon:
- dentate nucleus (dentatorubral tract)
- superior colliculi (tectorubral tract)
- inner pallidum (pallidorubral tract)
- cerebral cortex (corticorubral tract)
It sends its axons to the olive (rubro-olivary and reticulo-olivary fibers) and spinal cord (rubrospinal tract). Its action includes the coordination of muscle tone, body position and gait.
Pathology
A lesion of the red nucleus causes resting tremor, abnormal muscle tone and choreoathetosis. As oculomotor nerve fibers travel through the surface of the nucleus, oculomotor nerve palsy could be part of syndromes involving the red nucleus. These are Benedikt syndrome and Claude syndrome, caused by occlusion of perforating branches of posterior cerebral artery. These syndromes present with oculomotor nerve palsy as well as contralateral tremor, hemiataxia and choreiform movements.4
References
- 1. Standring S (editor). Gray's Anatomy (39th edition). Churchill Livingstone. (2011) ISBN:0443066841. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
- 2. Ross LMMP. Atlas of anatomy. George Thieme Verlag. (2007) ISBN:3131421215. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
- 3. Boon NA, Colledge NR, Walker BR et-al. Davidson's Principles and Practice of Medicine, 20th Edition. Churchill Livingstone. (2006) ISBN:0443100578. Read it at Google Books - Find it at Amazon
- 4. Midbrain, Pons, and Medulla: Anatomy and Syndromes Sara Sciacca, Jeremy Lynch, Indran Davagnanam, and Robert Barker RadioGraphics 2019 39:4, 1110-1125
Incoming Links
- Central tegmental tract T2 hyperintensity
- Face of the giant panda sign (midbrain)
- Hypertrophic olivary degeneration
- Corticorubral tract
- Parkinson disease
- Brainstem nuclei
- Weber syndrome
- Claude syndrome
- Dentate nucleus
- Benedikt syndrome
- Edinger-Westphal nucleus
- Oculomotor nucleus
- Triangle of Guillain and Mollaret
- Oculomotor nerve
- Rule of 4 of the brainstem
- Double panda sign
- Substantia nigra
- Extrapyramidal system
- Multiple system atrophy
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