Spinal cord Flashcards
What are the meninges (covers) of the spinal cord?
Dura mater, arachnoid, pia mater.
What does the grey matter consist of?
Neuron bodies.
What does white matter consist of?
Neuron axons.
What type of neurons are connected to the dorsal part of the spinal cord?
Afferent (sensory) neurons.
What type of neurons are connected to the ventral part of the spinal cord?
Efferrent (motor) neurons.
What are two ascending (sensory) tracts in the spinal cord?
Dorsal column or dorsolateral tract and antero-lateral system or spinothalamic.
What are the functions of the ascending (sensory) tracts in the spinal cord?
Transmit somatosensory information, send signals of pain and temperature.
What are the functions of the descending (motor) tracts in the spinal cord?
Reflexes, intentional movement.
What are two descending (motor) tracts in the spinal cord?
Dorsolateral or lateral corticospinal tract and ventromedial or vestibulospinal tract.
What are the spinal segments (along the vertebrae)?
Cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral, coccygeal.
What are the dermatomes?
The receptive fields of specific spinal neurons.
What are two types of spinal cord pathology?
Spinal cord transection (damage) and degenerative diseases (loss of myeliniation or fibers)
Name four pathologies related to spinal cord damage.
Tetraplegia, paraplegia, hemiplegia, monoplegia.
Name three pathologies related to degenerative disease in spinal cord.
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, poliomyelitis, syringomyealia.
What are the components of the reflex arc?
Receptor, sensorial tract, sensory neuron, motor neuron, affector.
What is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)?
A generative disease, which affects the descending pathaways, the disease is also known as motor neuron disease.
What is polyomyelitis?
A disease caused by polyovirus, affecting lower motor neurons and in severe cases ending with paralysis.
What is syringomyelia?
A generative disease that affects temperature and pain sensation because a cyst (syrinx) is formed in the spinal cord, which prevents sensory information to cross to the spinothalamic tract.
