Spinal tracts Flashcards
What type of nerves are in the descending tracts?
Motor
Name the descending tracts?
Draw a spinal cord cross section and show approx. where the tracts are.
Corticospinal: anterior and lateral
Rubrospinal
Tectospinal
Vestibulospinal
Olivospinal
Use lecture: Neuroanatomy, 4/4/16, Rochester
What type of motor function does the corticospinal tract do?
Do the anterior and lateral tracts have different purposes?
Rapid
Skilled
Voluntary movement
Anterior: axial muscles
Lateral: limb muscles
Where do the anterior and lateral corticospinal tracts decussate?
Anterior: at level of exit
Lateral: at medulla
Where do motor impulses arise from in the brain?
The primary motor cortex
At the pre-central gyrus
After impulses have been generated from the primary motor cortex, how do they travel through the brain to the corticospinal tract?
Via the internal capsule
A bunch of nerves travelling to the spinal cord
Name the ascending tracts?
Draw a spinal cord cross sections and show approx. where the tracts are.
Dorsal column medial leminiscus
- fasciculus gracilis
- fasciculus cuneatus
Spinothalamic tract: anterior and lateral
Spinocerebellar tract: anterior and posterior
Olivo-spinal tract
What sort of nerves are in the ascending tracts?
Sensory
What does the DCML pathway convey?
Fine touch and proprioception
Where does the DCML decussate?
At the medulla
What is the difference between F. gracilis and F. cuneatus?
Gracilis is where nerves from the lower limb travel
Cuneatus is where nerves from the upper limb travel
Where do sensory impulses from the body (DCML and spinothalamic) go as their final destination in the brain?
The somatosensory cortex
The post-central gyrus
What does the spinothalamic tract convey?
Anterior: light touch, pressure
Lateral: pain, temperature
Where does the spinothalamic decussate?
About 2 or 3 segments above the entrance level
What does the spinocerebellar tract convey?
Non-conscious muscle/joint sense
