Caudate nucleus

The caudate nucleus is one of the structures that make up the basal ganglia, along with the putamen, globus pallidus, subthalamic nucleus, and substantia nigra. While this system has long been associated with motor processes due primarily to the basal ganglia’s role in Parkinson's disease, there is mounting evidence that the structures that make up the basal ganglia—the caudate nucleus included—play important roles in various other nonmotor functions as well. Organizationally, the interplay between the basal ganglia and various regions in the brain is best described as a series of cortico-striatal loops, in which the striatum receives axons from the cortex (along with the putamen, the caudate nuclei are the main input regions for the basal ganglia), processes the information, then relays this back to distinct cortical regions (hence the name cortico-striatal). The caudate plays an important role in three of these loops: the oculomotor, dorsolateral, and ventral/orbital circuits. In a related way then, the caudate nucleus has been implicated with voluntary movement, learning, memory, sleep, and social behavior.