Lecture 7 - Motor System Flashcards
What are the 2 types of motor neurone?
Upper motor neurones (UMN)
Lower motor neurones (LMN)
Where are upper motor neurones located (UMN)?
Primary motor cortex (CNS only)
Where are Lower Motor Neurones located (LMN)?
Ventral horn of spinal cord and brainstem
What do Upper Motor Neurones synapse to?
Lower motor neurones
What do lower motor neurones synapse to?
Skeletal muscle
(Smooth muscle in sympathetic NS)
What part of the Lower Motor Neurones are located in the CNS?
LMN cell body + Proximal axon
What part of the Lower Motor Neurone is located in the PNS?
Distal axon of LMN
What are the structures called which all cranial nerves have in the brainstem from cranial nerve III onwards?
Cranial nerve nuclei
What is considered the brainstem?
Midbrain
Pons
Medulla
What is a nucleus in the brain?
A group of cell bodies of similar neurones
What 2 nuclei are located in the midbrain?
Occulomotor nuclei
Trochlear nuclei
What cranial nerve nucelus is located at the pontomedullary junction?
Abducens nuceli (VI)
What cranial nerve nuclei are located in the medulla?
IX
X
XI
XII
What part of the brain is there usually a lesion if theres disruption to swallowing?
Medulla
What is the name of type of vision where both eyes move in the same direction at the same time?
Conjugate gaze
What type of vision is conjugate gaze important for?
Binocular vision (needed for depth perception)
What are the 3 main cranial nerves/nuclei that need to communicate with each other for conjugate gaze to be achieved?
Occulomotor nuclei (III)
Trochlear nuceli (IV)
Abducens nuclei (VI)
What is the key structure by which the 3 cranial nuclei needed to achieve conjugate gaze communicate by?
Medial Longitudinal Fasciculus
think MiLF (i represents structure being moved)
What is the Medial Longitudinal Fasciculus? (MiLF)
Interneurones which connect the Occulomotor, Trochlear and Abducens nuclei so they can communicate eye movement to achieve conjugate gaze
Where do sensory neurones enter the spinal cord?
Where do lower motor neurones originate in the spinal cord?
Sensory = dorsal horn
LMN = ventral horn
What type of receptor is stimulated in the knee jerk reflex?
Spindle receptor (when patella tapped muscle detects it)
What is the myotome for knee Flexion?
L3
What muscles contract in the knee jerk reflex?
Which muscles must remain relaxed for the knee jerk reflex to occur?
Contract = Quads
Relaxed = Hamstrings
What prevents the hamstrings contracting along with the quadriceps in the knee jerk reflex?
(See Slide 2 if stuck)
The spindle fibres detecting the pressure on the tendon synapse to the Lower Motor Neurone Supplying the hamstrings but also give off a branch which travels and descends down to the L5 level and synapses to an inhibitory Interneurone which then synapses to a Lower Motor Neurone for the hamstrings preventing their contractions
What effect (Stimulatory or inhibitory) do most Upper Motor Neurones have on Lower Motor Neurones?
Most are stimulatory to LMN
What prevents unwanted contraction of skeletal muscle when the Upper Motor Neurones that directly synapse to the LMN are mainly Stimulatory?
Lots of inhibitory interneurones located in the ventral horn to help suppress the LMN
NET INHIBITION OF LMNs by the UMNs that synapse to inhibitory interneurones
How do Lower Motor Neurones end up being activated if there is an overall NET inhibition by inhibitory interneurones?
Very large stimulus sent down the Upper Motor Neurones which overcomes the inhibitory interneurones
What are the 2 main ways that Lower Motor Neurones can be damaged?
Cut axon
Damage cell body (in ventral horn)
What are lower motor neurone signs indicating theres being lower motor neurone damage?
Weakness
Hyporeflexia/aflexia
Hypotonia
Muscular atrophy
Fasciculation
Why do we get weakness with lower motor neurone damage?
You have disrupted the flow of electrical impulses/signals to the muscle