substantia nigra

substantia nigra

English

Etymology

Scientific Latin, from substantia (“substance”) + nigra (“black”).

Noun

substantia nigra (plural substantiae nigrae or substantia nigras)

1. (anatomy) A brain structure located in the mesencephalon (midbrain) that plays an important role in reward, addiction, and movement, damage to which occurs in Parkinson's and Parkinsonian patients. [from 19th c.]
   • 1997, Roy Porter, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, Folio Society 2016, p. 551:

     Their location was established in the 1950s as the substantia nigra, a layer of grey matter in the midbrain.

Synonyms

• SN

Meronyms

• (midbrain brain structure): pars compacta, pars reticulata

Translations

brain structure

Arabic: مَادَّة سَوْدَاء‎ f (mādda(t) sawdāʾ) Chinese: Mandarin: 黑質, 黑质 (hēizhì) Finnish: mustatumake French: substantia nigra (fr) f German: Substantia nigra f Japanese: 黒質 (こくしつ, kokushitsu) Latin: substantia nigra f Russian: чёрная субста́нция f (čórnaja substáncija) Turkish: siyah madde, kara madde