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, published 2016, page 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) sawdāʔ)
• 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