Ventral Lateral Nucleus of Thalamus

This is actually two nuclei as follows:

1. Anterior part of VL (VLa), also called the Ventral Oral nucleus (VO) of the thalamus.  The relay nucleus of the thalamus for the motor basal ganglia, receiving input from the globus pallidus internal segment (GPi). Output is to the supplementary motor area (SMA, Brodmann’s medial area 6)
2. Posterior part of VL (VLp), also called the Ventral intermediate nucleus (Vim) of the thalamus.  The relay nucleus of the thalamus for the cerebellum, receiving input from the opposite cerebellum via the superior cerebellar peduncle.  Output is to the primary motor cortex (Brodmann’s area 4) and premotor cortex (Brodmann’s lateral area 6).