OS III Exam III Flashcards
What is the difference between lower and upper motor neurons?
Upper: cerebral cortex, reticular formation, and vestibular nuclei. Lower: Alpha motor neurons, final common pathway.
What is a muscle spindle and how does it respond to changing muscle length?
Intrafusal muscle fibers parallel to extrafusal, surrounded by CT and wrapped with annulospiral sensory neurons. When stretched, physically gated channes in the sensory nerve open (Na/Cl) to generate a potential.
Describe the myotatic reflex.
Stretch spindle -> IA & II afferents -> alpha motor neuron -> contract same and synergistic muscles/ inhibit antagonist muscles (relax)
How does gamma motor neurons activity affect myotatic reflexes?
Set the sensitivity of the spindle.Tighter spindle = more sensitivity to I and II afferent neurons.
What controls gamma motor neurons: brain stem or muscle receptors?
Brain stem
What is a Golgi tendon organ and how does it respond to muscle tension?
Embedded in tendon and is sensitive to stretch/tension at the tendon. Maintains tension in response to stretch. Ib afferents inhibit alpha motor neurons to the same muscle.
Is the Golgi tendon organ regulated by gamma motor neurons?
NO
What is crossed extension reflex/flexor withdrawal?
Pain afferent (Agamma) cause extension of contralateral limb and flexion of limb affected.
Describe propriospinal neurons and their action on spinal reflexes.
Organize all the limbs together (e.g. walking, reaction to stimulation) Medial propriospinal neurons regulate full body posture, while lateral propriospinal neurons regulate fine motor movement.
What are some general functions of upper motor neurons?
Posture, balance, movements
Describe the motor control functions of the vestibulospinal and reticulospinal tracts.
Vestibulospinal relays head movement activity to spinal cord. Reticulospinal regulates muscle tone and flexor responses, coordinates complex actions. Reticulospinal has medial (pons) and lateral (medulla) tracts. The medial facilitates movements and muscle tone (via gamma motor neurons) while the lateral inhibits voluntary actions and reduces tone. Maintains posture and balance!
What is the antigravity posture and what produces it?
Lower limbs extended, upper limbs flexed. Vestibulospinal and reticulospinal tracts.
What is the internal capsule?
Bundle of axons in cerebral hemisphere that is a common site for strokes.
Describe the corticonuclear tract and what it does.
Projects to motor neurons of cranial nerves and controls muscles of face, head, and neck.
Describe the corticospinal tract and what it does. </p>
<p>Projects from the cortex through the internal capsule, cerebral peduncles, medulla (decussating), finally to alpha and gamma motor neurons of spinal cord. Lateral portion (90% decussed) controls fine motor movement. Medial portion (10% non-decussed) controls posture of neck and trunk. </p>
Describe the corticoreticular tract and what it does. </p>
<p>Primary and premotor cortices project to pontine and medullary reticular formation. Smoothes out movemtns and breaks up patterns. </p>
The medullary decussation?
90% of the corticospinal motor neurons cross, while 10% do not
How do the anterior and later corticospinal tracts differ in structure and function?
Anterior (ventral) has to do with the posture of the neck and trunk. The lateral deals with fine motor movements.
Compare lower motor neuron and upper motor neuron disease.
Lower motor neuron disease = flaccid paralysis. Upper neuron disease = spasticity.
What are the aspects of spasticity?
Active, but inappropriate muscle contraction. Can be caused by stroke (disruption of cortical projections to reticular formation). E.g anti-gravity posture, hypertonicity (clasp knife reflex), Babinski sign.
What two tracts does a stroke in the motor cortices disrupt?
Corticospinal, Corticoreticular
Compare the functions of the primary, supplementary and pre-motor cortices.
Primary: what to do and when to do it, encodes force, direction, extent, and speed of movements. activates muscles for discrete movments. Supplementary/Premotor: develop strategies for motor programs, high level integration with sensory information. ensures correct motor sequence (rehearsal)
What is the key function of the pre-motor cortex?
INTENTION. Spatial and sensory information as well as abstract rules. Based on memory.
What is Broca’s area?
Part of premotor cortex that control motor preparation for speech.
What is efference copy?
A copy of the motor program sent from the primary motor cortex to the somatosensory cortex.
How does efference copy play a role in self awareness?
It allows the somatosensory to compare what it expects to feel with what it actually receives from the periphery. It can feedback to refine the motor program until it matches.
What two concepts make up self-awareness?
Self-agency and Self-ownership
What are mirror neurons and where are they located?
Neurons that unify action perception and execution. Located at the inferior premotor area and inferior parietal cortex.
Describe the pathway from cerebellar cortex to motor cortex and back.
Closed loop from cerebellar cortex to dentate or fastigial nucleus to ventrolateral nucleus (thalamus) to the cortex to the pontine nuclei back to the cerebellar cortex.
Describe the location and functions of the cerebrocerebellum.
Lateral hemispheres of the cerebellum. Project to dentate nuclei to thalamus(ventrolateral nucleus) to cortex. Initiate voluntary movement by projecting anticipatory information to the primary motor cortex.
Describe the location and functions of the vestibulocerebellum.
Sliver at the base of the cerebellum. Receives input from vestibular system and projects to vestibular nuclei of emdulla. Controls posture, balance, & eye movements. Connected with VOR.
Describe the location and functions of the spinocerebellum.
Vermis (spine of cerebellum). Feedback control for ongoing movements. Detect disparaties
How do the vestibulocerebellum, spinocerebellum, and cerebrocerebellum differ in their connections with the motor cortex and spinal cord?
Go via different nuclei. Vestibulo -vestibular nuclei. Spino- fastigial and interposed nuclei. Cerebro -dentate.
Key word for spinocerebellum?
Comparer (in execution)
Key word for cerebrocerebellum?
Anticipation (in planning/programming)
Key word for vestibulocerebellum?
Balance