"Putamen" is also a botanical term for the stone in a fruit, such as a peach.

The putamen is a structure in the middle of the brain which, together with the caudate nucleus, forms the dorsal striatum.

The putamen is a portion of the basal ganglia that forms the outermost part of the lenticular nucleus.

Function

It appears to play a role in reinforcement learning.

Projections

The motor and somatosensory cortices, the intralaminar nuclei of the thalamus, and the substantia nigra project to the putamen.

The putamen projects to premotor and supplementary motor areas of cortex via the globus pallidus and thalamus.

Pathology

In lesions of the putamen, the patient's eyes will deviate away from the side of the hemiparesis.

Additional images

<gallery> Image:Telencephalon-Horiconatal.jpg|Horizontal section of right cerebral hemisphere. Image:Constudoverbrain.gif|Brain Image:Human brain frontal (coronal) section description 2.JPG|Human brain frontal (coronal) section Image:Putamen.jpg|Horizontal slice of MRI-image showing the putamen. The other nuclei of the basal ganglia (caudate nucleus and globus pallidus) can be seen as well. </gallery>

See also

• Lentiform nucleus

External links

• 
• - "The Visual Pathway from Below"

ca:Putamen de:Putamen es:Putamen fr:Putamen id:Putamen nl:Putamen ja:?? pl:Skorupa (anatomia) pt:Putāmen fi:Aivokuorukka