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26 - Cerebellar disorders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 December 2009

By
Mario Manto  and
Dennis A. Nowak
Edited by
Dennis A. Nowak  and
Joachim Hermsdörfer
Dennis A. Nowak
Affiliation:
Klinik Kipfenberg, Kipfenberg, Germany
Joachim Hermsdörfer
Affiliation:
Technical University of Munich
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Summary

Summary

Precise control of grasping when manipulating objects depends on intact function of the cerebellum. Given its stereotyped cytoarchitecture, the widespread connections with cortical and subcortical sensorimotor structures and the neural activity of cerebellar Purkinje cells during sensorimotor tasks, the cerebellum is considered to play a major role in the establishment and maintenance of sensorimotor representations related to grasping. Such representations are necessary to predict the consequences of movements. This chapter summarizes anatomical and theoretical aspects, electrophysiological and behavioral data characterizing the cerebellum, a key player in the processing of healthy grasping and in its dysfunction.

The anatomy of the cerebellum and its relation to the control of grasping

The cerebellum has attracted the attention of theorists and modelers for many years. The attraction is that the regular cytoarchitecture of the cerebellar cortex, with only one output cell and four main classes of interneurons, and the functional cerebellar circuitry have been very well documented (Wolpert et al., 1998). The circuitry of the cerebellum is unique by its stereotyped geometric arrangement and its modular organization, highly reminiscent of a machinery designed to process neuronal information in a unique manner (Ito, 2006). The cerebellum appears highly foliated, and this foliation is the reason for subdivision into smaller units (Larouche & Hawkes, 2006). From a structural standpoint, the cerebellum is made of pairs of nuclei embedded in white matter and surrounded by a mantle of cortex (Colin et al., 2002).

Type
Chapter
Information
Sensorimotor Control of Grasping
Physiology and Pathophysiology
 , pp. 361 - 374
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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