The basal ganglia are a group of subcortical nuclei that are important in motor control.1
Pathways:
- The caudate and putamen (striatum) the main input structures of the basal ganglia. GPi and SNr are the main output structures1,2
- Basal ganglia receives excitatory input from virtually all regions of the cortex. Sensory, motor, association and limbic areas of cortex all project to striatum1
- The major output from the basal ganglia is to the portions of the thalamus that project to prefrontal, premotor and motor cortex1,3
- The basal ganglia do not project directly to the spinal cord, therefore their effects on movement are indirect mediated by their connections between the thalamus and cortex.1,3
- There are two main pathways through the basal ganglia: the direct pathway is a direct connection from the striatum to GPi/SNr. The second, indirect pathway is from striatum to GPe to subthalamic nucleus to GPi/SNr1,2
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