Cerebellum · DN · substructure

Dentate Nucleus

Nucleus dentatus

The largest deep cerebellar nucleus: carries the output of the lateral hemispheres via the thalamus to motor and prefrontal cortex.

Open in the 3D atlas →All regions Parent structure: Cerebellum

Anatomy

In the hemispheric white matter, shaped like a crumpled bag; its hilum faces medially and forward.
Output: superior cerebellar peduncle → contralateral red nucleus and thalamus (VL) → cortex.

Functions

Motor planning and timing (dorsal part).
Cognitive functions: its ventral part forms a loop with the prefrontal cortex (Dum and Strick, 2003).

Clinical

Dentate nucleus atrophy in Friedreich ataxia.
Disorders of the dentato-thalamo-cortical pathway cause tremor and ataxia.

In the model

How this structure is defined in the 3D model, and the data source.

SUIT deep nuclei atlas (Diedrichsen et al., 2011), most-probable label map; a smoothed, volume-preserving surface.

References

Full citations for the card; links go to the paper (DOI) or a PubMed search.

Dum RP, Strick PL. An unfolded map of the cerebellar dentate nucleus and its projections to the cerebral cortex. J Neurophysiol 2003;89(1):634–639. DOI: 10.1152/jn.00626.2002

This page is for education; it must not be used on its own for diagnosis or treatment decisions.

Last reviewed by the author: 12 October 2026

3D model: built from the MNI ICBM152 average brain and the CerebrA, HCP-MMP1.0, CIT168, Harvard AAN, SUIT and Najdenovska thalamus atlases. License details in the atlas.