Blood Supply to the Human Dentate Nucleus by Cerebellar Arteries

The major roles of human cerebellum are balancing and planning, initiation, and modulation of voluntary movements. In addition, the cerebellum is known to be related with the cognitive function. The dentate nucleus is the largest deep nucleus in human cerebellum. The dentate nucleus is known to have somatotopic arrangement in itself in relation with the upper limb and lower limb. Series of cognitive function tests revealed that the areas for different cognitive domains are located in specific arrangement in the dentate nucleus as well. However, the mapping of arterial supply to each regions of the dentate nucleus by cerebellar arteries has not been clarified anatomically. The aims of this study are to clarify the arterial territories in the dentate nucleus and to match them with the known somatotopy and the arrangement of cognitive area in the dentate nucleus which should be useful for research and clinical situation of various cerebellar diseases. Fourteen cerebellar hemispheres from seven adult cadavers...