Neuroanatomical Terms Flashcards
Medial-lateral
Medial means toward the median plane, and lateral means away from the median plane
Anterior-Posterior
Above the midbrain.
-anterior: toward the front of the brain
-posterior: toward the back of the brain.
-At and below the midbrain, anterior means toward the ventral surface of the body, and posterior means toward the dorsal surface of the body.
Rostral-caudal
Rostral: toward the front of the brain
Caudal: toward the back of the brain
Dorsal-ventral
Rostral to the midbrain
Dorsal: refers to the top of the brain
Ventral: bottom of the brain
Superior-inferior
Both at positions above and below the midbrain
-Superior: toward the top of the cerebral cortex
Ipsilateral-contralateral
Ipsilateral: on the same side with reference to a specific point
Contralateral: means on the opposite side
Commissure and decussation
Commissure: a group of nerve fibers connecting one side of the brain with the other
-Decussation: crossing over of these nerve fibers
Neuron
Anatomical and functional unit of the nervous system
Nerve cell body, dendrites
Which receive signals from other neurons
Decussation
Crossing over of the nerve fibers (commisure)
Dendrites
Receive signals from other neurons
Axon
Transmits the signal to another neuron
Nucleus
groups of neurons located in a specific region of the brain or spinal cord that generally have a similar appearance, receive information from similar sources, project their axons to similar targets, and share similar functions
Tract
Many axons grouped together, which typically pass from a given nucleus to a common target region or to several regions
White matter is due to what feature?
The large number of myelinated axons (largely lipid membranes that wrap around the axons) that are present in this region
