putamen
Sign in to saveThe putamen (; from Latin, meaning "nutshell") is a subcortical nucleus with a rounded structure, in the basal ganglia nuclear group. It is located at the base of the forebrain and above the midbrain.
Key facts
- Brain.Name
- Putamen
- Brain.Image
- Putamen.svg
- Brain.Caption
- Putamen (in red) shown within the brain
- Brain.Image2
- Gray718.png
- Brain.Caption2
- Coronal section of brain through intermediate mass of third ventricle. (Putamen labeled at top.)
- Brain.IsPartOf
- Dorsal striatum
via Wikipedia infobox
Research
20,944 papers- Putamen vascularization on high-resolution 7T MRI is associated with perfusion and cognitive performance in cerebral small vessel disease.NeuroImage · 2025
- The role of the putamen in language: a meta-analytic connectivity modeling study.Brain structure & function · 2017
- Aesthetic appreciation correlates positively with putamen and inferior temporal gyrus.Behavioural brain research · 2025
- Nigrostriatal tau pathology in parkinsonism and Parkinson's disease.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2024
- Putamen Structure and Function in Familial Risk for Depression: A Multimodal Imaging Study.Biological psychiatry · 2022
via PubMed
Wikidata facts
- Image
- Putamen.gif
Show 3 more facts
- Commons category
- Putamen
- short name
- Pu
- NCI Thesaurus ID
- C12452
via Wikidata · CC0
~17 min read
Article
23 sectionsContents
- History
- Anatomy
- Caudate nucleus
- Substantia nigra
- Globus pallidus
- Physiology
- Types of pathways
- Dopamine
- Other neurotransmitters
- Function: motor skills
- Role in learning
- Reinforcement and implicit learning
- Category learning
- Role in "hate circuit"
- Role in transgender individuals
- Pathology
- Parkinson's disease
- Other diseases and disorders
- In other animals
- Additional images
- See also
- References
- External links
The putamen (; from Latin, meaning "nutshell") is a subcortical nucleus with a rounded structure, in the basal ganglia nuclear group. It is located at the base of the forebrain and above the midbrain.
The putamen and caudate nucleus together form the dorsal striatum. Through various pathways, the putamen is connected to the substantia nigra, the globus pallidus, the claustrum, and the thalamus, in addition to many regions of the cerebral cortex. A primary function of the putamen is to regulate movements at various stages such as in preparation and execution; and to influence various types of learning. It employs GABA, acetylcholine, and enkephalin to perform its functions. The putamen also plays a role in neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's disease.