小脑是许多大脑功能的关键参与者,也是神经科学研究的主要课题。然而,小脑核(CN),小脑的主要输出结构,经常被忽视。这种忽视是因为对小脑的研究通常集中在皮质上,并倾向于将CN视为相对简单的输出核,将反向信号从小脑皮质传递到大脑的其余部分。在这次审查中,通过采用核中心的观点,我们的目标是纠正这种印象。首先,我们描述了CN的解剖学和模块化,并将CN体系结构与高度组织但复杂的传入和传出连通性全面集成。随后对CN所包含的特定神经元类别进行了新的分类,并推测了CN结构和生理学对我们理解成人小脑功能的影响。基于对成人文献的全面回顾,我们提供了CN胚胎发育的全面概述,通过比较各种脊索分支的小脑结构,提出对CN进化的解释。尽管它们对小脑功能至关重要,从临床角度来看,有趣的是很少,如果有的话,神经系统疾病似乎主要影响CN。为了强调这种奇怪的异常,并鼓励未来的核中心解释,我们在检讨的基础上,就目前涉及CN的各种证候作一个简要概述.最后,我们总结了小脑的核中心观点带来的具体观点,把CN生物学中的重大未决问题搬到聚光灯下,并为需要回答的关键问题提供路线图,以创建全面的CN结构集成模型,函数,发展,和进化。
The cerebellum is a key player in many brain functions and a major topic of neuroscience research. However, the cerebellar nuclei (CN), the main output structures of the cerebellum, are often overlooked. This neglect is because research on the cerebellum typically focuses on the cortex and tends to treat the CN as relatively simple output nuclei conveying an inverted signal from the cerebellar cortex to the rest of the brain. In this review, by adopting a nucleocentric perspective we aim to rectify this impression. First, we describe CN anatomy and modularity and comprehensively integrate CN architecture with its highly organized but complex afferent and efferent connectivity. This is followed by a novel classification of the specific neuronal classes the CN comprise and speculate on the implications of CN structure and physiology for our understanding of adult cerebellar function. Based on this thorough review of the adult literature we provide a comprehensive overview of CN embryonic development and, by comparing cerebellar structures in various chordate clades, propose an interpretation of CN evolution. Despite their critical importance in cerebellar function, from a clinical perspective intriguingly few, if any, neurological disorders appear to primarily affect the CN. To highlight this curious anomaly, and encourage future nucleocentric interpretations, we build on our review to provide a brief overview of the various syndromes in which the CN are currently implicated. Finally, we summarize the specific perspectives that a nucleocentric view of the cerebellum brings, move major outstanding issues in CN biology to the limelight, and provide a roadmap to the key questions that need to be answered in order to create a comprehensive integrated model of CN structure, function, development, and evolution.