The neurons in the ventral mesencephalon (VM) are organized into several nuclei consisting of distinct neuronal populations. These include the dopaminergic (DA) neurons of the substania nigra and ventral tegmental area, the oculomotor (OM) neurons that innervate the muscles controlling eye movement, and the reticular neurons of the red nucleus (RN) involved in motor control and coordination rev...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The mesencephalon is involved in a number of human neurodegenerative disorders and has been typically imaged with T1-, T2- and T2*-weighted methods. Our aim was to collect high-contrast susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) data to differentiate among and within the basic mesencephalic structures: namely, the red nucleus, substantia nigra, and crus cerebri. MATERIALS AN...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The purposes of this study were to evaluate and review the risk factors and clinical features of patients with posterior circulation stroke involving mesencephalon and neighboring structures and to describe the clinical syndromes according to the mesencephalic arterial territory involved. METHODS We studied all patients with acute posterior circulation stroke involving ...

PURPOSE It remains unclear which gene induction effectively generates photoreceptor-specific phenotypes from nonretinal tissues. The purpose of this study was to determine whether Crx and Otx2--homeobox genes related to photoreceptor development--can induce the generation of these phenotypes in cells derived from adult ciliary and iris tissue and in mesencephalon-derived neural stem cells. ME...

Background and purpose To assess the anatomical distribution of the ischemic strokes of the brainstem, the effect of anatomical distribution on clinical features and prognosis, and the association between etiology and anatomical involvement. Methods A retrospective search of the patient database of our institution was performed for a total of 227 patients who were admitted to the Department o...