Imbalances can result tremors, jerks, dystonia, chorea and progressive motor weakness ending in diaphragmatic dysfunction, with the most common cause of mortality in most neurodegenerative disorders being aspiration pneumonia.

Likewise, the globus pallidus is involved in the constant subtle regulation of movement that allows people to walk and engage in a wide variety of other activities with a minimal level of disruption.

[9] (see primate basal ganglia#Pallidonigral set and pacemaker) The two parts receive successively a large quantity of GABAergic axonal terminal arborisations from the striatum through the dense striato-pallidonigral bundle.

Infarction of the globus pallidus can be seen with anoxic brain injury, carbon monoxide poisoning and drug overdoses (MDMA and heroin), with the insult classically being bilateral.

Additional substances that can accumulate in the basal ganglia include heavy metals (such as gadolinium, iron and copper), calcium and amyloid with hypothyroidism.

Clumps of disorganized nerve tissue, can accumulate inside the globus pallidus with neurofibromatosis type I, causing severe neurologic dysfunction.

[10] Though damage to the globus pallidus can cause movement disorders, diseases like Parkinson's and essential tremor can paradoxically be treated by surgically inducing lesions in the nuclei using ultrasound, Gamma knife, or more rarely open surgery.

The aim of these procedures is to reduce involuntary muscle tremors and improve extrapyramidal symptoms associated with neurodegeneration, though they can impact intellectual function and cause dysarthria.

As the elements in no way have the shape of a globe, throughout the 20th century scientists proposed a simpler term (a neuter adjective), pallidum (meaning "pale").

The link with the substantia nigra pars reticulata was stressed very early on due to the similarities in dendritic arborisation (and they are sometimes known as the pallidonigral set) but, in spite of strong evidence, this association remains controversial.