locus caeruleus


lo·cus cae·ru·'le·us

[TA] a shallow depression, of a blue color in the fresh brain, lying laterally in the most rostral portion of the rhomboidal fossa near the cerebral aqueduct; it lies near the lateral wall of the fourth ventricle and consists of about 20,000 melanin-pigmented neuronal cell bodies the norepinephrine-containing axons of which have a remarkably wide distribution in the cerebellum as well as in the hypothalamus and cerebral cortex. Synonym(s): locus cinereus, locus ferrugineus, substantia ferruginea

lo·cus cae·ru·le·us

(lō'kŭs sē-rū'lē-ŭs) [TA] Shallow blue depression, in the fresh brain, lying laterally in the most rostral portion of the rhomboidal fossa near the cerebral aqueduct.