Spinal Cord

Question 1

What do spinal nerves do?

Answer 1

They transport sensory input from body tissues to the spinal cord.

Question 2

The spinal cord comes in two flavors, what are they?

Answer 2

White matter (longitudinal tracts myelinated axons), and gray matter (neuronal cell bodies).

Question 3

True or False: Sacral vertebral level has the most white matter?

Answer 3

False, the cervical level does.

Question 4

Collections of myelinated axons performing the same functions and travelling to and from the same areas

Answer 4

Tracts

Question 5

Transport efferent information from the brain to the ventral horn gray matter.

Answer 5

Descending axonal tracts

Question 6

Transport sensory information form the dorsal roots and horns to the brain.

Answer 6

Ascending axonal tracts

Question 7

How many horns are within gray matter of the spinal cord, and what are they?

Answer 7

3; Dorsal, Lateral, and Ventral Horns.

Question 8

Contains cell bodies of motor neurons whose axons exit the ventral root to innervate deep back muscles (via dorsal rami) and body wall and limb muscles (via ventral rami); the ventral horn is not uniform in size along the length of the spinal cord.

Answer 8

Ventral Horn

Question 9

Ventral horn gray matter in the C5-T1 spinal cord levels contains a large number of motor neuron cell bodies to innervate the upper limb muscles.

Answer 9

Cervical spinal enlargement

Question 10

Ventral horn gray matter in the L2-S3 spinal cord levels contains a large number of motor neuron cell bodies to innervate the lower limb muscles.

Answer 10

Lumbosacral spinal enlargement

Question 11

Contains cell bodies for preganglionic autonomic motor neurons and is only seen in some regions of the spinal cord.

Answer 11

Lateral horn

Question 12

What level do the preganglionic sympathetic neuronal cell bodies arise from in the lateral horns?

Answer 12

T1-L2 spinal cord levels

Question 13

What level do the preganglionic parasympathetic neuronal cell bodies arise from in the lateral horns?

Answer 13

S2-S4

Question 14

Receives sensory neurons entering the spinal cord via the dorsal roots; also contains cell bodies of interneurons that communicate with motor neurons in the ventral horn or ascending tracts of white matter.

Answer 14

Dorsal Horn

Question 15

Located in the middle of the gray matter as an adult remnant of the neural tube.

Answer 15

Central Canal

Question 16

The most caudal portion of the spinal cord; contains the sacral and coccygeal spinal cord segments and is located at the L1-L2 vertebral level.

Answer 16

Conus medullaris