Basal Ganglia

The basal ganglia are a group of brain structures linked together, handling
complex processes that affect your entire body. While best known for
their role in controlling your body’s ability to move, experts now know they
also play a role in several other functions, such as learning, emotional
processing and more.

Contents Overview Function Anatomy Conditions and Disorders

Care

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Overview
What are the basal ganglia?
The basal ganglia (pronounced “bay-sal” “gang-lee-uh”) are a group of
structures near the center of your brain that form important connections.
These connections allow different areas of your brain to work together.
The basal ganglia manage the signals your brain sends that help you
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 move your muscles.

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Function
What do the basal ganglia do?
The basal ganglia are best known for how they help your brain control
your body’s movements. However, ongoing research continues to uncover
other ways that the basal ganglia interact with other parts of your brain.
Though experts continue to uncover more about the inner workings of the
basal ganglia, there’s much about them that remains unknown.
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 Movement

The basal ganglia are a key part of the network of brain cells and nerves
that control your body’s voluntary movements. They can approve or reject
movement signals that your brain sends, Oltering out unnecessary or
incorrect signals. This lets you control certain muscles without also using
other muscles that are nearby.

If the basal ganglia approve a signal, it continues to the motor pathways,

the nerves that eventually carry the signal down your spinal cord and
nerves to their destination muscle. If they don’t approve the signal, they
redirect it into an area where other brain cells dampen those signals until
they stop.

The parts of your brain that process information from your senses,
namely sight, sound, smell, taste and touch, also send that information to
your basal ganglia. That sensory information helps the basal ganglia
reOne your movements further.

Decision-making

Another job of the basal ganglia is processing how you evaluate goals and
risks. It also processes signals that affect your emotions and your
motivation. That means it also plays a role in learning and forming habits,
planning and carrying out tasks, and more.

Reward and addiction

Because the basal ganglia involve processes like emotions, motivation

and habits, they also affect how you learn and how you feel in response to
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 things happening around you. That includes feeling good (reward) about
something you do, or feeling the need to avoid something. Because of the
involvement of your brain’s processes with rewards, habits and motivation,
the basal ganglia also have a role in illnesses like addiction.

Anatomy
Where are the basal ganglia located?
The basal ganglia aren’t a single structure in your brain. Instead, they
include several structures, ganglia and nuclei alike, found at the center of
your brain.

The parts of the basal ganglia include:

Caudate nucleus.

Globus pallidus.

Putamen.

Substantia nigra pars reticulata.

Subthalamic nucleus.

Ventral pallidum.

How they connect and work together

The basal ganglia are separate structures that link up in various ways. One
way to think of the basal ganglia is like a circuit board found in an
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 electronic device. The ganglia form connections and circuits with different
parts of your brain, allowing them to send signals back and forth. Some
parts of the basal ganglia can also relay signals from different areas.

There are also different kinds of connections that happen throughout the
basal ganglia. Some of these connections are “excitatory,” meaning they
cause something to happen. Others are “inhibitory,” meaning they stop
signals from continuing. Some connections trigger the release of other
neurotransmitter chemicals, which your body uses for communication
and activating or deactivating certain processes and systems.

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How big is it?

The basal ganglia take up about 10 cubic centimeters of space, which is a
volume that’s about the same as a standard gumball.
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 What is it made of?
The basal ganglia aren’t actually all ganglia. Some of the structures are
nuclei, but experts still group them under the name. The deOnition of
nuclei and ganglia are as follows:

Nuclei: This is the plural term for “nucleus.” Nuclei in your nervous
system are nerves or clusters of brain cells with the same job or
connecting to the same places.

Ganglia: This is a plural term for “ganglion.” Ganglia are groups of

nerves or brain cells that are closely related. They might share
connections and jobs or work together as part of a bigger subsystem
of your nervous system.

Making up the nuclei and ganglia are the following:

Neurons: These cells make up your brain and nerves, transmitting and
relaying signals. They can also convert signals into either chemical or
electrical forms.

Glial cells: These are support cells in your nervous system. While they
don’t transmit or relay nervous system signals, they help the neurons
that do.

Neurons

Neurons are the cells that send and relay signals through your nervous
system, using both electrical and chemical signals. Each neuron consists
of the following:
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 Cell body: This is the main part of the cell.

Axon: This is a long, arm-like part that extends outward from the cell
body. At the end of the axon are several Onger-like extensions where
the electrical signal in the neuron becomes a chemical signal. These
extensions, known as synapses, lead to nearby nerve cells.

Dendrites: These are small branch-like extensions (their name comes

from a Latin word that means “tree-like”) on the cell body. Dendrites
are the receiving point for chemical signals from the synapses of
other nearby neurons.

Myelin: This is a thin fatty layer that surrounds the axon of many
neurons. It acts as a protective covering and helps speed up certain
signals.

Neuron connections are incredibly complex, and the dendrites on a single

neuron may connect to thousands of other synapses. Some neurons are
longer or shorter, depending on their location in your body and what they
do.

Glial cells

Glial (pronounced “glee-uhl”) cells have many different purposes, helping

develop and maintain neurons when you’re young, and managing how the
neurons work throughout your entire life. They also protect your nervous
system from infections, control the chemical balance in your nervous
system and create the myelin coating on the neurons’ axons. Your
nervous system has 10 times more glial cells than neurons.
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Conditions and Disorders

What are the common conditions and disorders that
affect the basal ganglia?
Conditions that affect the basal ganglia include, but aren’t limited to:

Addictions.

Alzheimer’s disease.

Attention-deOcit hyperactivity disorder.

Brain tumors (including cancer).

Carbon monoxide poisoning.

Concussions and other traumatic brain injuries.

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 Heavy metal poisoning or other toxins.

Infections (including those that cause encephalitis).

Huntington’s disease.

Lewy body dementia.

Multiple sclerosis.

Multiple system atrophy.

Parkinson’s disease.

Progressive supranuclear palsy.

Stroke.

Tourette syndrome.

Wilson’s disease.

Common signs or symptoms of problems affecting the

basal ganglia?
The symptoms that can happen with conditions that affect the basal
ganglia depend strongly on the type of condition. Movement disorders like
Parkinson’s disease or Huntington’s disease will have different effects
from carbon monoxide poisoning or heavy metal poisoning.

Balance and coordination problems.

Muscle weakness and spasms.

Shakiness and tremors.

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 Vision problems.

Slurred speech.

Common tests to check the health of the basal ganglia?

Several types of diagnostic tests are possible with conditions that affect
the basal ganglia. Some of the most common tests include, but aren’t
limited to:

Blood tests (these can detect many problems, ranging from immune
system problems to toxins and poisons, especially metals like copper,
mercury or lead).

Computerized tomography (CT) scan.

Electroencephalogram (EEG).

Electromyogram (nerve conduction test).

Evoked potentials (sensory tests).

Genetic testing.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Positron emission tomography (PET) scan.

What are some common treatments for conditions that

affect the basal ganglia?
The treatments for conditions that affect your basal ganglia can vary
depending on the condition in question. There’s no one-treatment-Ots-all
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 approach to conditions that affect your brain, and treatments that help
one condition can make others worse. Some conditions are treatable with
medication only, while others require surgery or other treatments. In some
cases, the condition isn’t treatable, so healthcare providers will focus on
treating the symptoms.

Care
How can I prevent problems with my basal ganglia?
Many — but not all — conditions that affect the basal ganglia are
preventable. Protecting the basal ganglia is very similar to taking care of
your entire brain, as well as your body overall. Some of the most important
things you can do include:

Eat a balanced diet. Vitamin levels that are too high or too low can
cause problems with your brain or nervous system. Your diet also
affects your circulatory health, which can impact your brain (stroke is
an example of a condition that happens because of heart and
circulatory disorders).

Stay physically active and maintain a healthy weight. Your weight and
activity level can prevent or delay conditions that affect your brain,
especially circulatory problems like high blood pressure.

Wear safety equipment as needed. Head injuries, especially

concussions and traumatic brain injuries, can damage the basal
ganglia and other parts of your brain. In some cases, that damage is
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 severe and/or permanent. Wearing safety equipment to prevent those
injuries is essential, regardless of whether you use that equipment
while at work or play.

Manage your chronic conditions. Many of the conditions that affect

your brain and nervous system worsen over time. However, treating
those conditions can sometimes stop them or delay how long it takes
for them to worsen.

A note from Cleveland Clinic

The basal ganglia have a critical job in your brain, and experts are working
to understand even more about what they do. While there’s still a lot that
experts don’t yet understand, advances in medical knowledge and
technology are helping change that. As understanding of the basal ganglia
grows, healthcare providers will have even more ways to diagnose and
treat the conditions that affect them.

Medically Reviewed

Last reviewed by a Cleveland Clinic medical professional on 08/05/2022.

Learn more about our editorial process.

References
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