Middle cerebellar peduncles
Encyclopedia
The middle cerebellar peduncles (brachia pontis) are composed entirely of centripetal fibers, which arise from the cells of the nuclei pontis of the opposite side and end in the cerebellar cortex; the fibers are arranged in three fasciculi, superior, inferior, and deep.
- The superior fasciculus, the most superficial, is derived from the upper transverse fibers of the pons; it is directed backward and lateralward superficial to the other two fasciculi, and is distributed mainly to the lobules on the inferior surface of the cerebellar hemisphere and to the parts of the superior surface adjoining the posterior and lateral margins.
- The inferior fasciculus is formed by the lowest transverse fibers of the ponsPonsThe pons is a structure located on the brain stem, named after the Latin word for "bridge" or the 16th-century Italian anatomist and surgeon Costanzo Varolio . It is superior to the medulla oblongata, inferior to the midbrain, and ventral to the cerebellum. In humans and other bipeds this means it...
; it passes under cover of the superior fasciculus and is continued downward and backward more or less parallel with it, to be distributed to the foliaFolium (brain)A folium is a wrinkle on the surface of the cerebellum. The cortex of a folium consists of three layers of cells - the top molecular layer, the Purkinje layer, and the bottom granular layer - and this cortex covers deeper white matter ....
on the under surface close to the vermis.
- The deep fasciculus comprises most of the deep transverse fibers of the pons. It is at first covered by the superior and inferior fasciculi, but crosses obliquely and appears on the medial side of the superior, from which it receives a bundle; its fibers spread out and pass to the upper anterior cerebellar folia. The fibers of this fasciculus cover those of the restiform body.