Cerebral peduncle

The cerebral peduncles (pedunculus cerebri; crus cerebri) are two cylindrical masses situated at the base of the brain, and largely hidden by the temporal lobes of the cerebrum, which must be drawn aside or removed in order to expose them. They emerge from the upper surface of the pons, one on either side of the middle line, and, diverging as they pass upward and forward, disappear into the substance of the cerebral hemispheres.

The depressed area between the crura is termed the interpeduncular fossa, and consists of a layer of grayish substance, the posterior perforated substance, which is pierced by small apertures for the transmission of blood vessels; its lower part lies on the ventral aspect of the medial portions of the tegmenta, and contains a nucleus named the interpeduncular ganglion its upper part assists in forming the floor of the third ventricle.

The ventral surface of each peduncle is crossed from the medial to the lateral side by the superior cerebellar and posterior cerebral arteries; its lateral surface is in relation to the gyrus hippocampi of the cerebral hemisphere and is crossed from behind forward by the trochlear nerve.

Close to the point of disappearance of the peduncle into the cerebral hemisphere, the optic tract winds forward around its ventrolateral surface. The medial surface of the peduncle forms the lateral boundary of the interpeduncular fossa, and is marked by a longitudinal furrow, the oculomotor sulcus, from which the roots of the oculomotor nerve emerge.

On the lateral surface of each peduncle there is a second longitudinal furrow, termed the lateral sulcus; the fibers of the lateral lemniscus come to the surface in this sulcus, and pass backward and upward, to disappear under the inferior colliculus.