The pyramidal tract, pyramidal syndrome and involuntary movement disorders related to the extrapyramidal pathways are described. A review of the evolution and growth of the neurobiological and clinical knowledge of non-voluntary movement control, which have led up to the recent attempts to better integrate these two discipline components, is attempted. Presently, animal models of involuntary movement disorders are available which, for the first time, permit the study of the role played by different subcortical nuclei in pathological conditions. However, a critical analysis suggests that neurobiological and clinical data are still far from being totally integrated.