Substantia nigra

The substantia nigra is a part of the brain. This is the part of the midbrain that produces dopamine involved in movement. It is involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's Disease.

Substantia nigra
Substantia nigra highlighted in red.
Section through superior colliculus showing substantia nigra.
Details
Part of	Midbrain, basal ganglia
Identifiers
Latin	substantia nigra
Acronym(s)	SN
MeSH	D013378
NeuroNames	536
NeuroLex ID	birnlex_789
TA	A14.1.06.111
FMA	67947
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy

Anatomical overview of the main circuits of the basal ganglia, substantia nigra is shown in black. Picture shows 2 coronal slices that have been superimposed to include the involved basal ganglia structures. + and – signs at the point of the arrows indicate respectively whether the pathway is excitatory or inhibitory in effect. Green arrows refer to excitatory glutamatergic pathways, red arrows refer to inhibitory GABAergic pathways and turquoise arrows refer to dopaminergic pathways that are excitatory on the direct pathway and inhibitory on the indirect pathway.