Electrophysiological Evidences of Organization of Cortical Motor Information in the Basal Ganglia

During the last two decades, the many developments in the treatment of movement disorders such as Parkinson disease and dystonia have enhanced our understanding on organization of the basal ganglia, and this knowledge has led to other advances in the field. According to many electrophysiological and anatomical findings, it is considered that motor information from different cortical areas is processed through several cortico-basal ganglia loops principally in a parallel fashion and somatotopy from each cortical area is also well preserved in each loop. Moreover, recent studies suggest that not only the parallel processing but also some convergence of information occur through the basal ganglia. Information from cortical areas whose functions are close to each other tends to converge in the basal ganglia. The cortico-basal ganglia loops should be comprehended more as a network rather than as separated subdivisions. However, the functions of this convergence still remain unknown. It is important even for clinical doctors to be well informed about this kind of current knowledge because some symptoms of movement disorders may be explained by disorganization of the information network in the basal ganglia.