page_title: Magnocellular red nucleus
section_title: Overview
hierarchical_section_title: Magnocellular red nucleus / Overview
caption_attribution_description: This is a section in the transverse plane through the human midbrain at the level of the superior colliculus, showing the rough path of each nervus oculomotorius from its nucleus toward the eye. The front of the head is near the bottom of the picture.
context_page_description: The magnocellular red nucleus is located in the rostral midbrain and is involved in motor coordination. Together with the parvocellular red nucleus, the mRN makes up the red nucleus. Due to the role it plays in motor coordination, the magnocellular red nucleus may be implicated in the characteristic symptom of restless legs syndrome. The mRN receives most of its signals from the motor cortex and the cerebellum.
context_section_description: The red nucleus (RN), a group of neurons composed of the parvocellular red nucleus (pRN) and the magnocellular red nucleus (mRN), contributes to movement and motor control within the forelimb. Primate studies have shown that more forelimb mRN neuron discharges are observed when the location of the target object a primate is reaching is on the right or above. This demonstrates that although forelimb mRN neurons are involved in grasping movements to the left, right, above, and below, they play a greater role when an organism is attempting to reach an object to the right or above. Scientists were also able to find differences in the functions and anatomies between the parvicellular and magnocellular regions of red nuclei in monkeys. Single unit recording in two monkeys that were kept awake during experimentation was used to search for functional differences between the two regions of the red nucleus. In order to investigate inputs to the two regions, anatomical tracing of WGA-HRP was used. Overall, the magnocellular region was much more responsive than that parvicellular region. The pRN is located in the diencephalon, a division of the forebrain, and the mRN is located in the mesencephalon (midbrain). Unlike the pRN, which is both GABAergic and glutamatergic, the mRN is solely glutamatergic.
  The RN is capable of projection onto the spinal cord interneurons and motor neurons of signals integrated from the motor cortex and cerebellum. The mRN already existed in tetrapods after they became terrestrial. It became further developed in mammals when the volume of the mRN increased along with the development of the intermediate cerebellum and the interposed nuclei.
caption: Section, in the transverse plane through the human midbrain at the level of the superior colliculus, that shows the rough path of each nervus oculomotorius from its nucleus toward the eye and the relative location of the red nucleus. For reference, the bottom of the picture is where the front of the head is located.[6]
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