The dentato-rubro-thalamic tract (DRTT) is a cerebellar efferent pathway important to normal motor function and neurological disease. While the DRTT is described as a decussating (crossing) pathway, the existence of a nondecussating DRTT was recently demonstrated. We compared thalamic connectivity of decussating and nondecussating DRTT using both structural and functional MRI. Probabilistic tractography indicated that the two pathways contact distinct but partially overlapping sets of thalamic nuclei. These results were reinforced by significant correlations with functional connectivity. We conclude that the decussating and nondecussating DRTT exhibit different connectivity patterns, which suggests participation in divergent neural networks.
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