Ascending and Descending Pathways Flashcards
How many neurons are involved in the ascending sensory tracts?
3
How many neurons are involved in the corticospinal and corticobulbar descending motor tracts?
2
What type of fibres carry information from mechanoreceptors in the skin through the medial lemniscal pathway to the brainstem?
A-beta fibres
A-beta fibres carry sensory information from mechanoreceptors in the skin. Give examples of types of mechanoreceptors?
Meissner's corpuscle Merkel discs Hair follicle receptors Pacinian corpuscle Ruffini's endings
A-beta fibres from mechanoreceptors in the skin give of a branch to the dorsal horn before continuing through the dorsal columns to the brainstem. T/F?
True
What is the name of the nucleus at which A-beta fibres synapse with the secondary neuron in the medial lemniscal ascending pathway?
Gracile nucleus
What is the name of the nucleus in the thalamus where fibres in the dorsal column tract synapse with tertiary neurons?
VPL of thalamus
At what point in the dorsal column pathway do the fibres decussate to the contralateral side?
At the synapse between primary and secondary neurons in the brainstem
What is the name for the part of the secondary neuron in the dorsal column tract which crosses to the contralateral side of the tract?
Internal arcuate fibres
What is the role of the territory neuron in the ascending tracts?
To transmit sensory information from the thalamus, through the internal capsule, to the sensory cortex
What type of fibres make up the primary neuron of the spinothalamic ascending pathway?
A-delta and C fibres
At what level of the spinothalamic tract do neurons decussate to the contralateral side of the tract?
At the synapse between the primary and secondary neuron in the spinal cord
The secondary neuron decussates and ascends to the brainstem via which column of the spinal cord in the spinothalamic tract?
Antero-lateral column
The secondary neuron of the spinothalamic tract travels through the brainstem - what is its name at this point?
Spinal lemniscus
Which descending tracts are responsible for voluntary movement?
Corticospinal and corticobulbar tracts