Cerebellum

• Cerebellum has been considered as

a silent area of the brain as it is not
involved in any conscious sensory
perception, nor gives any motor
movement. Removal or damage to
cerebellum does not cause any
paralysis and produces no sensory
loss. Yet, cerebellum is necessary for
motor movement as it is involved in:
   Planning and programming of voluntary
action
 Control of rate, range, force and direction
of movement
• Controls the timing of movements which
facilitates progression from one
movement to the next.( Coordination of
voluntary movement)
• It has a role in motor learning
• Controls muscle tone.
• Maintains posture and Equilibrium
 Functional anatomy of
cerebellum
  cerebellum
Anatomically the is
divided into three lobes by two deep
fissures.
• Anterior lobe
• Posterior lobe
• Flocculo nodular lobe ( also called
archicerebellum: oldest part)
 Anterior lobe and posterior lobe have
functional divisions.
• Centrally a narrow band called Vermis is present .
In this part the control of axial body, neck,
shoulder and hips is located.

• The limbs and facial regions lie in the

intermediate zones.

• The lateral portions of the cerebellar

hemispheres receive input from premotor, motor,
sensory association areas of the cortex. This link
helps in planning and co ordination of body’s
rapid sequential muscular activities
 Physiologically, the cerebellum can
be classified as

1.Vestibulo cerebellum which includes

flocculo nodular lobe
2.Spino cerebellum which includes
Vermis and para vermal regions
3.Neo cerebellum. It includes the
lateral cerebellar hemispheres.
 Nuclei of Cerebellum
The surface of cerebellum contains grey
matter with foldings greater than cerebral
cortex. The inner white matter contains
four pairs of nuclei.

• Fastigius
• Globosus
• Emboliformis
• Dentatus
 Cytoarchitecture of cerebellar cortex
The cytoarchitecture of cerebellar cortex
shows three layers, which are uniform
throughout cerebellum.
• Molecular layer
• Purkinje layer
• Granule cell layer

The afferent input to the cerebellum comes

from
• 1.      Climbing fiber from inferior olive
• 2.      Mossy fiber from other afferents
• Climbing fiber ends on the Purkinje
fiber, while the mossy fiber synapes
with granule cells.
• The Purkinje cell receives excitatory
inputs but it gives inhibitory input to
the cerebellar nuclei. The final output
from the cerebellar nuclei will be
excitatory as they receive other
excitatory inputs.
• To control the activity of Purkinje cells
there are three inhibitory interneurons
namely, Golgi cells, Basket cells and
Stellate cells. The inhibitory signals helps
to turn off the movement to prevent over
shooting its mark.
• The climbing fibers also help in learning
new motor tasks as it alters the sensitivity
of the Purkinje cells to the stimulation of
Mossy fibers. This will lead to precise
timing of cerebellar control of movements
Afferent connections
 Efferent connections
• Cerebello vestibular tract
• Cerebello pontine tract
• Cerebello thalamic tract( ventro
lateral nucleus) or cerebello rubro
thalamic tract
• Cerebello reticular tract
 Functions of cerebellum
Vestibulo cerebellum
Consists of flocculo nodular lobe. It is
responsible to maintain muscle tone and
equilibrium

The nucleus fastigius gives connections to

the vestibular nucleus and reticular
formation. The descending pathways
namely vestibulo spinal and reticulo spinal
tracts controls posture and equlilibrium.
 
 Spino cerebellum
Its main function is to give coordination of
movements from distal parts of limbs. 

• It includes vermis and paravemal portions of

anterior and posterior lobes of cerebellum.
• It contains nucleus interpositus, which gives
connections to red nucleus. It receives feed
back information from motor cortex and red
nucleus about the sequential intended plan of
movement. It also receives feed back
information from proprioceptors from the distal
parts of the limbs during the actual movement.
• The spino cerebellum then compares the
motor plan and performance and if any
deviation is present it sends corrective
signals through cortico spinal and rubro
spinal tracts.
• It also helps to prevent overshoot of
movements and to damp movements.
• Also controls ballistic movements( rapid)
• Damage to this part of the cerebellum
causes overshooting of the mark and the
corrective attempts of cerebellum leads to
action tremor or intention tremor.
 
 Neo cerebellum
The lateral cerebellar hemispheres are
highly developed in humans. It is
responsible for:
• Planning of sequential movements
• Timing of complex sequential movements
( control of rate, range, force and direction
of movement) So that the movements will
have a smooth progression from one to
another.
  The dentate nucleus is present in it. The
cerebro- cerebellar – cerebral feed back
circuit gives the servo control mechanism
for the error control of complex sequential
movements.
 Effects of Cerebellar Damage
Ipsilateral side is affected
Ataxia( incoordination)
• Staggering gait
• Dysmetria
• Past pointing
• Staccato speech
Failure of progression
1. Dysdiadochokinesia( asynergia)
2. Dysarthria
Intention Tremor( action tremor)
• Cerebellar Nystagmus
Hypotonia
• Pendular Knee jerk
 Tests for Cerebellar function

• Finger nose test

• Rapid alternating movement
• Knee heel test
• Tandem walking
• Gait