Neuroanatomy Flashcards
(201 cards)
Regions of the brain from caudal to rostral
. Brainstem (medulla, pons, and midbrain) and cerebellum
. Diencephalon
. Telencephalon
What regions make up cerebrum?
Telencephalon and diencephalon
What is considered the axial structure of CNS?
. Spinal cord and brainstem
. Receive and send info from/to periphery through peripheral organs (nerves)
What is considered Supra-axial part of CNS?
. Cerebrum and cerebellum
. Communicate w/ periphery only through axial CNS (besides olfaction)
Spinal cord functions
. Receives primary sensory inputs from receptors in skin, skeletal m. And tendons, and from receptors on thoracic, abdominal and pelvic viscera, sensory input may have spinal reflexes, conveyed higher on neuraxis, or both
. Contains ascending(project to rostral structure) and descending (to spinal motor neurons) fibers
. Contains somatic motor neurons and visceral motor neurons that innervate skeletal and smooth mm.
Ventral (ant.) median fissure
. Ant. Spinal a. Courses here
Ventrolateral sulcus
. 2 of them
. Ventral rootless attach here
Dorsolateral sulcus
. 2 of them
. Dorsal rootlets attach here
. Post. Spinal aa. Located just medial to these
Dorsal (post.) median sulcus
. Less conspicuous than ventral median fissure
Dorsointermediate sulcus
. 2 of them
. Seen only at servical and upper thoracic spinal levels (C1-T6)
. Fasciculus gracilis is med. to this sulcus
. Fasciculus cuneatus is lat. to sulcus
Basic development of spinal cord
. Alar plate gives rise to sensory area of dorsal horn ( receives general somatic and visceral afferent from central process of DRG neurons)
. Neurons give rise to axons of several long ascending sensory pathways
. Basal plate gives rise to motor neurons of ventral horn, axons exit spinal cord to be ventral roots (general somatic and visceral efferent)
Gray matter in pineal cord
. Dorsal and ventral horns and intermediate one where horns meet
. Shaped as an H
Laminae I-VI are from ___
Dorsal horn
Laminae VII from ___
Intermediate gray matter
Laminae VIII and IX from ___
. Ventral horn
. VIII is interneurons
. IX is alpha motor neurons
Lamina X comes from ___
. Midline area of gray matter around central canal
Dorsal horn
. Sensory horn of spinal cords bc it receives DRG neurons
. Substantia gelatinosa (Lamina II) is most distinct structure
. Laminae III and IV are located below the substantia gelatinosa and groups as nucleus proprius
. Laminae V and VI form base of posterior horn
Intermediate zone
. Extends from area of central canal to lat. edge of spinal gray
. Varies in shape at different levels of cord
. Characteristic of lamina VII at thoracic and upper lumber levels and have posterior thoracic nucleus (dorsal nucleus of Clarke) and lateral horn that contains nuclei assoc. w/ GVA or GVE
Ventral horn
. Motor horn
. Alpha motor neurons are GSE and form ventral roots of spinal n. To then directly innervate skeletal m.
. Lamina IX has alpha motor neurons but also gamma motor neurons that innervate muscle spindles
. Large motor neurons are organized into 2 general but overlapping patterns: cells innervating prox. Muscle are med. and cell innervating distal mm. Are progressively lat. 4
Regions of white matter
. Posterior funiculus
. Lateral funiculus
. Anterior funiculus
. Each is composed of individual tracts/fascicule
. Part of anterior white commissary and posterolateral tract (Lissauer’s tract)
Posterior funiculus
. Btw post. Median sulus and median edge of post. Horn
. Contains only ascending tracts (epicritic touch and conscious proprioception)
. Above T6 has gracilis and cuneatus fasciculi (both together referred to as posterior columns)
. Below T6 is just fasciculus gracilis
Lateral funiculus
. Located btw posterolateral and ventrolateral sulci
. Contains both ascending and descending tracts
. Dorsal to ventral: dorsal spinocerebellar tract, lat. corticospinal tract, rubrospinal tract, ventral spinocerebellar tract, anterolat. System
Dorsal spinocerebellar tract (DSCT)
. Carries unconscious proprioception to cerebellum
Lateral corticospinal tract (LCST)
. One of the important descending tracts from motor cortices to influence spinal motor neurons to make movement