Week 10: The Cerebellum Flashcards
What are the functions of the cerebellum?
- production of coordinated movements
- maintain equilibrium, balance and posture
- co ordinates appropriate time, force and duration of muscle contraction (synergy)
What is synergy
two or more systems come together to create a more powerful response
How does the cerebellum act; ipsilateral or contralateral?
ipsilateral –> receives information from the ipsilateral side of the body
i.e the right cerebellar hemisphere will receive information from AND for the right side of the body and will act on the right side of the body
Where is the cerebellum?
- under the occipital lobes
- attached to the brainstem by 3 paired cerebellar peduncles
What is the vermis?
separates the right and left hemispheres of the cerebellum
What are the 3 functional subdivisions of the cerebellum?
- Vestibulocerebellum (archicerebellum)
- Spinocerebellum (palaecerebellum)
- Cerebrocerebellum (neocerebellum)
What is the vestibulocerebellum made of?
flocculonodular lobe and part of vermis
What is the function of the vestibulocerebellum?
- co-ordinates muscle involved in maintaining balance and constancy of visual fields
- receives input from vestibular apparatus of inner ear –> the vestibular apparatus detects change in balance
- regulates balance and eye movements
What is the spinocerebellum comprised of?
most of the vermis and adjacent region of hemispheres
What is the function of the spinocerebellum?
- co ordinates muscles involved in posture and locomotion
- regulates body and limb movements
What is the cerebrocerebellum comprised of?
lateral parts of hemispheres
What is the function of the cerebrocerebellum?
co-ordinates movements of distal limbs, particularly fine, skilled and targeted movements of hands (also involved in learning, linguistic and cognitive functions)
How is the cerebellum organised?
somatotopically:
- the axial musculature is projected to the vermis
- lateral most to the limbs
Explain how the vestibulocerebellum maintains balance
- Vestibule detects a change in balance and fires axons to the vestibular nucleus in the medulla
- From the medulla, the vestibulocerebellar afferents reach the cerebellum via the ICP
- The cerebellum then sends efferent fibres back to the vestibular nuclei in the medulla
- Vestibulospinal pathway reach LMNs for the body to contract and stabilise the postural muscles
- Some axons (the medial longitudinal fasciculus) go to the neck and the eyeballs so we can look and maintain gait
What does the vestibulospinal pathway do?
- extrapyramidal pathway
- works with the vestibulocerebellum to modify posture and balance
- co ordinates the actions of muscles that maintain equilibrium
- vestibular nuclei in pons and rostral medulla