fall lecture 18 Flashcards
1
Q
what is a spinal cord
A
- information highway between brain and body
- tissue the size of an index finger
2
Q
what do spinal nerve pairs do
A
- receives sensory information and sends motor signals to effector
3
Q
function of spinal cord
A
- conduction
- locomotion
- reflexes
4
Q
conduction
A
- bundles of fibers passing info up and down spinal cords
- (electrical signals)
5
Q
locomotion
A
- repetitive, coordinated actions of several muscle groups
- delivers impulses
- locomotion could be lost due to spinal cord injury (paralysis)
6
Q
reflexes
A
- tests pathways
- involuntary, stereotyped responses to stimuli
- if you wack someones knee and it doesn’t move spinal cord could be damaged
7
Q
where do pairs of spinal nerves arise from
A
- cervical, thoracic, lumbar and sacral
8
Q
cauda equina
A
- nerve roots resemble horse tail
- branch out by buttcrack
9
Q
what do meninges do
A
- cover brain and spinal cord
10
Q
what are the 3 meninges
A
- dura mater
- arachnoid mater
- Pia mater
(in order from superficial to deep)
11
Q
Dura mater
A
- ” tough mother “
- tough collagenous membrane surrounded by epidural space field with fat and blood vessels
12
Q
Epidural
A
- do not block pain, reduces pain
- go outside of dura
- when placing an epidural, you wait for a loss of resistance when reaching dura fat
13
Q
spina bifida
A
- failure of vertebral arch to close and cover spinal cord
- dura forms outside of body
- caused by deficiency of folic acid (vitamin B)
14
Q
Arachnoid mater
A
- filled with cerebrospinal fluid
- has white “webs”
- creates subarachnoid space
15
Q
Pia mater
A
- delicate membrane adherent to spinal cord
- thin, clear, tight wrapping
16
Q
Grey mater
A
- any part of a neuron that doesn’t have myelin
- ex. dendrites, cell body, parts of knob
- shaped like a butterfly
17
Q
White mater
A
- myelinated axons; tracts
- take info up very quickly
18
Q
ascending
A
- toward brain
19
Q
desending
A
- away from brain
20
Q
decussation
A
- everything on left body is interpreted by right brain and vice versa
- stimulus and end result in the brain are on opposite sides of body
- when fibers cross sides
most nerve pathways undergo this
21
Q
contralateral
A
- organ of stimulus and place of interpretation in brain are on opposite sides
22
Q
ipsilateral
A
- no decussation / no crossing over
23
Q
spinal tracts
A
- can be ascending
- can be descending
24
Q
most pathways
A
- take 3 neurons / synapses to reach destination (usually the cortex; outer region of brain)
25
Q
Decussation happens
A
- in 2nd order neuron in medulla
26
Q
Ascending pathway
A
- Spinothalamic pathway
27
Q
spinothalamic pathway
A
- pain, pressure, tickle, ect..
- decussation of 2nd order neuron
28
Q
descending tracts
A
- tectospinal tract
- reticulospinal tract
- vestibulospinal tract
29
Q
tectospinal tract
A
- reflex to sights and sounds behind us
30
Q
reticulospinal tract
A
- controls limb movements to maintain posture and balance
- weather or not were falling over
- activity in response to inner ear signals
- balence and spinning
31
Q
vestibulospinal tract
A
- activity in response to inner ear signals
- balence and spinning
32
Q
diseases effecting the ventral root/ motor response
A
- poliomyelitis
- Amyotropich lateral sclerosis
33
Q
poliomyelitis
A
- caused by poliovirus (spread by fecally contaminated water)
- scar left by vaccine
- destroys ventral roots
- “people have very skinny limbs with this virus
34
Q
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
A
- ALS
- death typically within 3 years
- motor neurons are attacked leading to 100% paralysis
- Steve Gleason and Ice bucket challenge
35
Q
ramus
A
- branch off of spinal nerves
36
Q
plexus
A
- collection of nerves
- when a ramus reacts with several branches
37
Q
what could could lead to loss of breath
A
- a disruption in the nerve signals of the plexus
38
Q
shingles
A
- attacks only 1 nerve pathway
- getting a virus (ex. flu or covid) could cause your body to forget how to fight off chicken pox and you could get shingles
- can have lingering effects and cause patients to go crazy due to pain
39
Q
dermatome
A
- overlapping of spinal nerve regions
- ex. when having tooth surgery, they ask when your tongue goes numb
40
Q
grade 3 reflex
A
- when you see spread of the reflex to adjacent muscle groups ex. when you see reflex on opposite side
41
Q
grade 2 reflex
A
- normal
42
Q
grade 1 reflex
A
- reduced compared to normal reflex
43
Q
grade 0 reflex
A
- no reflex at all
44
Q
clonus
A
- grade 4 reflex
- an abnormal reflex response that involves involuntary and rhythmic muscle contractions
45
Q
A
