Chapter 13: Spinal cord

Overview of the Spinal Cord:

• Carries information between brain and body
• Extends through vertebral canal from foramen magnum (opening at the base of the skull) to the level of
the second lumbar vertebra (L2)
• Each pair of spinal nerves receives sensory information and sends motor signals to muscles and glands
• Spinal cord is a component of the Central Nervous System

Functions of the Spinal Cord:

• Conduction
 bundles of fibers passing information up and down spinal cord allowing sensory information to
reach the brain and motor commands to reach effectors
• Locomotion
 repetitive, coordinated actions of several muscle groups
• Motor neurons in the brain initiate walking and determine speed, distance, direction…
• central pattern generators are pools of neurons in the spinal cord providing alternating
movements of flexors and extensors (walking)
• Reflexes
 involuntary, stereotyped responses to stimuli (remove hand from hot stove)
 Reflexes involve the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves

1. How does Guillian Barre syndrome affect nerve conduction? Does it affect CNS axons or PNS axons?
What signs or symptoms would be present in a patient suffering from this disorder?
• Guillain-Barre syndrome, known also as acute inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy.
 One of the most common life-threatening diseases of the PNS
 Often triggered by a viral infection
 Large segments of the myelin sheath are damaged
 Large accumulations of lymphocytes, macrophages and plasma cells around nerve fibers
within nerve fasicles.
• T cell-mediated immune response directed against myelin causing its destruction and slowing or
blocking nerve conduction.
• Symptoms are of ascending muscle paralysis, loss of muscle coordination, and loss of cutaneous
sensation, sometimes death from respiratory paralysis.

2. What is meningitis?
Inflammation of the meninges, one of the most serious diseases of infancy and childhood.
Occurs between 3 months and 2 years
Caused by a variety of bacteria and viruses that invade the CNS by way of nose and throat.
The pia mater and arachnoid are most often affected and can spread to adjacent nervous tissue.
Brain swells, ventricles enlarge and brainstem may hemorrhage.
Signs include high fever, stiff neck, drowsiness and intense headache, vomiting, loss of sensory and
motor functions
Diagnosed in part by lumbar puncture and to look for bacteria and white blood cells by drawing fluid
from the subarachnoid space.

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 3. Where does the spinal cord begin and end?
• Carries information between brain and body
• Extends through vertebral canal from foramen magnum (opening at the base of the skull) to the level
of the second lumbar vertebra (L2)
• Each pair of spinal nerves receives sensory information and sends motor signals to muscles and
glands
• Spinal cord is a component of the Central Nervous System

4. What are central pattern generators?

Motor neurons in the brain initiate walking and determine its speed, distance, and direction, but the
simple repetitive muscle contractions that put one foot in front of another, over and over, are coordinated
by groups of neurons called central pattern generators in the cord.

5. What are the primary functions of the spinal cord? What is the cauda equine?
• Conduction
 bundles of fibers passing information up and down spinal cord allowing sensory information
to reach the brain and motor commands to reach effectors
• Locomotion
 repetitive, coordinated actions of several muscle groups
• Motor neurons in the brain initiate walking and determine speed, distance, direction
• central pattern generators are pools of neurons in the spinal cord providing alternating
movements of flexors and extensors (walking)
• Reflexes
 involuntary, stereotyped responses to stimuli (remove hand from hot stove)
 Reflexes involve the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nerves

• Cauda equinae is L2 to S5 nerve roots

It resembles a horse’s tail

6. Describe the characteristics of the meninges and their anatomical relationship to each other?
The Meninges of the spinal cord:
• Dura mater (tough mother)
 tough collagenous membrane surrounded by epidural space filled with fat and blood vessels
• epidural anesthesia utilized during childbirth
• Arachnoid mater (spider web resembling)
 layer of simple squamous epithelium lining dura mater and loose mesh of fibers filled with
CSF(creates subarachnoid space)
• Pia mater
 delicate membrane adherent to spinal cord

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 7. What is spina bifida and how can a female decrease the risk of this occurring to the developing embryo?
• Congenital defect in 1 baby out of 1000
• Failure of vertebral arch to close covering spinal cord
• Folic acid (B vitamin) as part of a healthy diet for all women of childbearing age reduces risk
• Certain anti-seizure medications can cause neural tube defects (such as spina bifida) if high doses of
folic acid are not given along with the drugs during early pregnancy

8. What is the relationship between the white matter and grey matter in the spinal cord? What is the
functional significance of each?
White Matter Grey Matter
• White column = bundles of myelinated axons
• Pair of dorsal or posterior horns
that carry signals up and down to and from
 dorsal root of spinal nerve is totally sensory brainstem
fibers  3 pairs of columns or funiculi
• dorsal, lateral, and anterior
• Pair of ventral or anterior horns columns
ventral root of spinal nerve is totally motor • Each column is filled with named tracts or
fibers fasciculi (fibers with a similar origin, destination
and function)
• Connected by gray commissure

Bright pearly white appearance (abundance of

Relatively dull color (contains little myelin)
myelin)
Contains somas, dendrites and proximal parts
of axons of neurons Composed of bundles of axons called tracts that
carry signals from one part of the CNS to another.
Site of synaptic contact between neurons and
site of all synaptic integration in CNS
Both have an abundance of glial cells.

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 9. What is the difference between lower motor neurons and upper motor neurons? Where are the cell
bodies of each neuron?
• Lower motor neurons reside in anterior horn of the spinal cord
 Their axons innervate skeletal muscle
 Their axons form the motor portions of peripheral nerves
 They are called “the final common pathway” because they receive input from higher brain
areas such as the cerebral cortex
• Upper motor neurons are in higher centers such as the motor cortex
 Their axons excite or inhibit lower motor neurons
• Upper motor neuron begins with a soma in the cerebral cortex or brainstem and has an axon that
terminates on a lower motor neuron in the brainstem or spinal cord.

10. What is the difference in function between the anterior horn and posterior horn of the spinal cord?

The posterior (dorsal) and anterior (ventral) spinocerebellar tracts travel through the lateral column.
i. They carry proprioceptive signals from the limbs and trunk to the cerebellum.
ii. The first-order neurons originate in muscles and tendons and end in the posterior horn of the
spinal cord.
iii. Second-order neurons send fibers up the spinocerebellar tracts and end in the cerebellum.
iv. Fibers of the posterior tract travel up the ipsilateral side of the spinal cord.
v. Fibers of the anterior tract cross over and travel up the contralateral side, but then cross back in
the brainstem to enter the ipsilateral side of the cerebellum.
Both tracts provide the cerebellum with feedback needed to coordinate muscle action.

11. Review the terms decussation, ipsilateral, contralateral and use them to describe neuroanatomical
relationships.
• Ascending and descending tracts head up or down while decussation means that the fibers cross
sides

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 • Contralateral means that the origin and destination are on opposite sides while ipsilateral means on
same side

12. How many neurons are in a typical ascending sensory pathway?

3 neurons
• Ascending Tracts carry sensory signals up the spinal cord.
• Sensory signals typically travel across three neurons from their origin in the receptors to their
destination in the sensory areas of the brain
 1st order neuron – detects stimulus
 2nd order neuron receives stimulus from the 1st order neuron and sends it up to the thalamus at
upper end of brain stem, called at times “the gateway”
 3rd order neuron carries stimulus from the 2nd order neuron in the thalamus to the region of
the sensory cortex of the cerebrum

13. What functions are assigned to the precentral and postcentral gyri of the cerebral cortex?
a. The general senses (somesthetic, somatosensory, or somatic senses) are distributed over the
entire body and include touch, pressure, stretch, movement, heat and cold, and pain.
i. Coming from the head, such signals reach the brain via certain cranial nerves, notably the
trigeminal nerve; from the rest of the body, the signals ascend sensory tracts of the spinal
cord.
ii. Both routes decussate to the contralateral thalamus.
iii. The thalamus processes the input and selectively relays signals to the postcentral gyrus.
iv. The cerebral cortex of the postcentral gyrus is called the primary somesthetic cortex.
b. Motor control involves first the intention to contract a skeletal muscle, which begins in the
motor association (premotor) area of the frontal lobes
i. The program for action is then transmitted from the premotor area to neurons of the
precentral gyrus (primary motor area), the most posterior gyrus of the frontal lobe,
immediately anterior to the central sulcus. (Fig. 14.23a)
ii. Neurons in the precentral gyrus send signals to the brainstem and spinal cord, which
ultimately results in muscle contraction.
iii. The precentral gyrus, like the postcentral one, exhibits somatotopy and can be mapped as
a motor homunculus.
iv. In the brainstem or spinal cord, fibers from the upper motor neurons synapse with lower
motor neurons, the axons of which innervate the skeletal muscles.
1. The basal nuclei and cerebellum are other important muscle control areas.
2. The basal nuclei determine the onset and cessation of intentional movements;
walking; and highly practiced learned behaviors like typing or tying shoes.
3. The basal nuclei lie in a feedback circuit from the cerebrum to the basal nuclei to
the thalamus and back to the cerebrum.
4. Nearly all areas of cerebral cortex, except for primary visual and auditory
cortices, send signals to the basal nuclei.
5. The basal nuclei process these signals and output to the thalamus, which relays
signals back to the cerebral cortex, notably to motor areas.
6. Lesions of basal nuclei cause dyskinesias, such as seen in the rigid movements of
Parkinson disease and the exaggerated movements of Huntington disease.
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 v. The cerebellum is important in motor coordination, aids in learning motor skills,
maintains muscle tone and posture, and coordinates eye and body movements, and the
motions of different joints.

14. What type of sensations travel in the dorsal columns? Anterolater/spinothalamic? Where do the fibers
decussate in each system?
Dorsal Column:
Carry proprioceptive signals from limbs and trunk to the cerebellum with feedback needed to
coordinate muscle action.
Deep touch, visceral pain, vibration are carred in the dorsal columns
*Fasciculus gracilis and cuneatus carry signals from leg and arm respectively
First order neuron travels up the ipsilateral SC terminating in medulla oblongata
Decussation of 2nd order neuron in medulla
*Form the medial lemniscus a tract that head up the thalamus
rd
3 order neuron in thalamus carries signal to cerebral cortex.

Anterolater/spinothalamic:
Passes up the anterior and lateral columns of the spinal cord and carries signals for pain, temperature,
pressure, tickle, itch and light or crude touch.
Because of its decussation, the spinothalamic tract ultimately sends its signals to the contralateral
cerebral hemisphere.
1st order neuron ends near its point of entry, the dorsal horn
Decussation of the 2nd order neuron occurs in the spinal cord
3rd order neuron occurs in spinal cord.

15. Where do the 1st, 2nd, and 3d order neurons of the dorsal column ascending pathway travel, decussate, and
synapse?
a. First order neuron travels up the ipsilateral SC terminating in medulla oblongata
b. Decussation of 2nd order neuron in medulla
*Form the medial lemniscus a tract that head up the thalamus
rd
c. 3 order neuron in thalamus carries signal to cerebral cortex.

16. Where do the 1st, 2nd, and 3d order neurons of the spinothalamic ascending pathway travel, decussate, and
synapse?
a. 1st order neuron ends near its point of entry, the dorsal horn
b. Decussation of the 2nd order neuron occurs in the spinal cord
c. 3rd order neuron occurs in spinal cord.

17. In the spinocerebellar pathway do the cerebellar region and body region receives signals from ipsilateral
or contralateral?
Fibers of the posterior tract travel up the ipsilateral side of the spinal cord
Anterior tract corss over and travel up the contralateral side but then cross back in the brainstem to
enter the ipsilateral side of the cerebellum.
Therefore the cerebellar region receives signals from the ipsilateral

18. In the lateral corticospinal pathway, is the body region controlled ipsilateral or contralateral to its
primary motor cortex?

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 Contralateral side

19. How many motor neurons are in the lateral corticospinal pathway? Where do they decussate and where
do the neurons synapse?
Clinically MOST Important Descending Tract
 Arises from upper motor neurons in the motor cortex
• Motor cortex is somatotopically organized
 Axons descend and cross in the pyramidal decussation in the caudal medulla
 Innervates lower motor neurons which innervate limb muscles.
• Corticospinal Tract:
 Carry motor signal from the cerebral cortex for precise coordinated limb movements
 Two neuron pathway
 Upper motor neuron in cerebral cortex descends to cord and synapses in the ventral
horn with the lower motor neuron
 Lower motor neuron cell body is in ventral horn of the spinal cord
 Decussation in medulla for lateral corticospinal tract.

20. Understand spinal cord trauma, poliomyelitis, ALS to the detail covered in lecture and the textbook.
Spinal cord trauma:
• 10-12,000 people/ year are paralyzed, 55% occur in traffic accidents
• Spinal cord injury poses risk of respiratory failure if segments innervating the diaphragm or above
are damaged
• Early symptoms are called spinal shock (few days to weeks) flaccid paralysis, loss of sensation,
below the lesion and absence of reflexes
• Later, hypereflexia occurs (both somatic and autonomic)
• Tissue damage at time of injury is followed by post-traumatic infarction
• Complete Transection of the spinal cord causes immediate loss of motor control at and below the
level of injury
• Treatment:
 Stabilize spine to prevent further injury
 Methylprednisolone (a steroid drug) given early after injury dramatically improves recovery
of by reducing injury to cell membranes, inhibiting inflammation, and apoptosis
• Prevents the spread of damage to several spinal cord adjacent segments
 Surgery to stabilize fractures
 Physical Therapy for rehab and adaptive equipment

• Diseases causing destruction of motor neurons and skeletal muscle atrophy

• Poliomyelitis caused by poliovirus spread by fecally contaminated water
 Destroys motor neurons in the brainstem and ventral horn of the spinal cord
 Muscle pain, weakness progresses to paralysis, and potentially respiratory arrest
• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig disease)
 Degeneration of motor neurons and atrophy of muscles
 sclerosis of lateral regions of spinal cord
• astrocyte failure to reabsorb glutamate neurotransmitter – becomes
neurotoxic.
 paralysis and muscle atrophy
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 21. Where would deficits be found if the upper motor neurons were injured on the right side above the level
of the pyramidal decussation in the medulla? What if it was below the medulla?
Important concept: lower versus upper motor neurons:
Lower motor neurons reside in anterior horn of spinal cord
Their axons innervate skeletal muscle
Their axons form the motor portions of peripheral nerves
They are called the “the final common pathway” because they receive input from higher brain
areas such as the cerebral cortex.

Clinical Note: Upper Motor Neuron Injury

Injury of corticospinal system (pyramidal tract) anywhere above the pyramidal decussation (medulla)
causes Contralateral paralysis of the limbs
Injury below the pyramidal decussation will cause ipsilateral paralysis below the lesion.

22. What is the homunculus?

Receptors in the lower limb project to superior and medial parts of the gyrus
Receptors in the face project to the inferior and lateral parts.
Such point for point correspondence between areas of the CNS is called somatotopy.
23. If the entire right side of the spinal cord was injured, where would the sensory deficits?
Brown-Séquard Syndrome
This syndrome affects one-half of the spinal cord, either the left or right side. If the right-hand side of
the spinal cord is injured, symptoms affect the right side of the body (and if the left-hand side of the
spinal cord is injured, the left side of the body is affected). It is characterized by partial loss of function
or impaired function.

24. Discuss the details of peripheral nerve and relevance to administering a lidocaine anesthetic.
• Local anesthetics, such as lidocaine, act by blocking the cytoplasmic side of the voltage-gated Na+
channel. The hydrophobicity of the anesthetic determines how efficiently it diffuses across lipid
membranes and how it binds to the Na+ channel, and therefore its potency
• Local anesthetics are injected or applied outside the peripheral nerve epineurium and therefore must
cross the epineurium to reach the perineurium, which is the most difficult layer to penetrate because
of tight junctions between cells
 Anesthetics then pass through the endoneurium, which invests the myelinated and
unmyelinated fibers, Schwann cell and capillaries.
 Only anesthetics that have passed through these 3 sheaths can reach the neuronal membranes
where the voltage-gated sodium channels reside.

25. What is a peripheral nerve ganglia?

• Ganglia are clusters of neuron cell bodies in nerve in PNS
• Dorsal root ganglion hold sensory neuron cell bodies
 fibers pass through without synapsing

26. Where do the sensory axons enter the spinal cord and where are the cell bodies of the neurons?

 all the sensory axons pass into the dorsal root ganglion where their cell bodies are located and then
on into the spinal cord itself.

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 all the motor axons pass into the ventral roots before uniting with the sensory axons to form the
mixed nerves.

 Sensory neurons have their cell bodies in the spinal (dorsal root) ganglion. Their axons travel
through the dorsal root into the gray matter of the cord. Within the gray matter are interneurons with
which the sensory neurons may connect.

Also located in the gray matter are the motor neurons whose axons travel out of the cord through the
ventral root. The white matter surrounds the gray matter. It contains the spinal tracts which ascend and
descend the spinal cord.

27. Where do the motor axons leave the spinal cord before entering a spinal nerve?

28. What is a dermatome?

Each spinal nerve except C1 receives sensory input from a specific area of skin called a dermatome.

29. Discuss the pathology of shingles, radiculopathies, and neuropathies.

Shingles:
• Skin eruptions along path of nerve
• Varicella-zoster virus (chicken pox) remains for life in dorsal root ganglia
• Occurs after age 50 if immune system is compromised
 Travels back down the sensory nerves by fast axonal transport causing skin discoloration and
fluid filled vesicle along the cutaneous region of the nerve
 Antiviral drugs (acyclovir) can shorten the course of an episode of shingles if taken with the
first 2-3 days of outbreak
 Post herpetic neuralgia can cause intense pain along the course of the nerve for months or
even years and is difficult to treat.

Radiculopathies:
• Sensory or motor dysfunction caused by injury to a nerve root
 Injuries to posterior (dorsal) roots cause sensory disturbances
 Injuries to anterior (ventral) roots cause motor disturbances
• Commonly, radiculopathies are due to vertebral disc herniation
• Often, burning pain or tingling radiates in affected dermatome
• Motor deficits may result in muscle paresis (weakness), atrophy and fasciculations
 Muscles are not normally paralyzed if only one root is affected
• For example, if the C6 anterior root is injured, the biceps is weak, not paralyzed

Neuropathies:
• Sensory or motor dysfunction caused by pathology affecting a nerve
• Neuropathies can result from metabolic disorders such as diabetes mellitus
 Diabetic neuropathy – glove and stocking
• Can manifest as burning pain or tingling radiates in affected nerve distribution
• Sensory deficits involve portions of adjacent dermatomes
• Motor neuropathies cause muscle paralysis, atrophy, and fasciculations

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 Clinical Application (Spinal Nerve Injuries):
***Radial and sciatic nerves are especially vulnerable to injury.

Radian nerve, which passes through the axilla, may be compressed against the humerus by improperly
adjusted crutches, causing crutch paralysis.

One consequence of radial nerve injury is wrist drop because the extensor muscles supplied by the
radial nerve are paralyzed.

Because of its position and length, the sciatic nerve of the hip and thigh is the most vulnerable nerve
in the bodytrauma to this nerve produces sciatica, a sharp pain that travels from gluteal region along
posterior side of the thigh and leg as far as the ankle.
90% of cases result from a herniated intervertebral disc or osteoarthritis of the lower spine.

The Spinal Nerves:

• Proximal to the spinal nerve and coming off the spinal cord is the:
 dorsal root is sensory (input to spinal cord)
 ventral root is motor (output of spinal cord)
• There are 31 pairs of spinal nerves
 They are mixed nerves containing both motor and sensory fibers, which exit at intervertebral
foramen and then branch
• Distal branches
 dorsal ramus supplies dorsal body muscle and skin
 ventral ramus to ventral skin and muscles and limbs
 meningeal branch to meninges, vertebrae and ligaments

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 Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear, colorless liquid that fills the ventricles and canals of the CNS and
bathes its external surface.
a. The brain produces about 500 mL of CSF per day, but it is constantly reabsorbed and only 100 to
160 mL is normally present at one time.
b. CSF production begins with filtration of blood plasma through the brain’s capillaries.

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 i. Ependymal cells modify this filtrate so that CSF has more sodium and chloride, but less
potassium, calcium, and glucose and very little protein.
c. CSF is circulated through the CNS by its own pressure, by the beating of cilia on the ependymal
cells, and by rhythmic pulsations of the brain produced by the heartbeat.
i. CSF secreted in the lateral ventricles flows through the interventricular
foramina into the third ventricle and then down the cerebral aqueduct to the fourth
ventricle. (Fig. 14.7)
ii. The third and fourth ventricles add more CSF.
d. A small amount of CSF fills the central canal of the spinal cord, but all of it escapes through three
pores in the walls of the fourth ventricle: a median aperture and two lateral apertures.
i. These apertures lead into the subarachnoid space.
ii. CSF is reabsorbed in this space by the arachnoid villi.

CSF serves three purposes.

a. Buoyancy. The brain and CSF are similar in density; this buoyancy allows the brain to attain
considerable size without being impaired by its own weight.
b. Protection. CSF helps prevent the brain from striking the cranium when the head is jolted; however,
severe jolts may still be damaging, as in shaken baby syndrome and concussions from car accidents,
boxing, etc.
c. Chemical stability. The flow of CSF rinses metabolic wastes away and homeostatically regulates the
brain’s chemical environment.

The blood supply to the nervous system is critically important, and the brain barrier system protects the
brain from harmful agents in the blood. (p. 524)
1. The brain is only 2% of the adult weight, but it receives 15% of the blood and consumes 20%
of the oxygen and glucose of the body.
a. A 10-second interruption in blood flow can cause loss of consciousness; 1 to 2
minutes, impairment of function; and 4 minutes irreversible brain damage.
2. The brain barrier system regulates what substances can get from the bloodstream into the
tissue fluid of the brain.
a. The blood capillaries through the brain tissue is one point of entry, and it is protected
by the blood–brain barrier (BBB) consisting of tight junctions between endothelial cells
that form the capillary walls.
i. During development, astrocytes induce development of the tight junctions in
these endothelial cells.
ii. Anything leaving the blood must therefore pass through the cells and not
between them.
b. The choriod plexuses are another point of entry, and this is protected by the blood–
CSF barrier formed by tight junctions between ependymal cells.
i. Tight junctions are absent from ependymal cells elsewhere, allowing exchange
between brain and CSF.

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 2. The BBS is highly permeable to water, glucose, and lipid-soluble substances such as oxygen,
carbon dioxide, alcohol, caffeine, nicotine, and anesthetics; it is slightly permeable to sodium,
potassium, chloride, and waste produces urea and creatinine.
a. The BBS is an obstacle to delivery of medications such as antibiotics and cancer drugs.
b. Trauma and inflammation sometimes damage the BBS, allowing pathogens to enter the
brain tissue.
c. In the third and fourth ventricles, circumventricular organs (CVOs) lack the barrier,
and the blood has direct access to the brain.
i. CVOs allow the brain to monitor and respond to blood variables, but they also
afford a route of invasion by HIV.

Cerebellar lesions cause deficits in coordination and locomotor ability, and also in sensory,
linguistic, emotional, and other nonmotor functions.
a. The cerebellum is highly active in tactile exploration and in spatial perception.
b. The cerebellum is a timekeeping center involved in rhythm and in prediction of
trajectories of moving objects.
c. Cerebellar lesions may impair a person’s ability to judge differences in pitch of sounds,
and language input and output may be affected.
d. People with cerebellar lesions also have difficulty planning and scheduling tasks, tend
to overreact, and have difficulty with impulse control.
i. Many children with ADHD have abnormally small cerebellums.

Spinal Relaxes:
• Quick, involuntary, stereotyped reactions of glands or muscle to sensory stimulation
 automatic responses to sensory input that occur without our intent or often even our awareness
• Functions by means of a somatic reflex arc
 stimulation of somatic receptors
 afferent fibers carry signal to dorsal horn of spinal cord
 one or more interneurons integrate the information
 efferent fibers carry impulses to skeletal muscles
 skeletal muscles respond

The Stretch (myotatic) reflex:

• When a muscle is stretched, it contracts and maintains increased tonus (stretch reflex)
 helps maintain equilibrium and posture
• head starts to tip forward as you fall asleep
• muscles contract to raise the head
 stabilize joints by balancing tension in extensors and flexors smoothing muscle actions
• Very sudden muscle stretch causes tendon reflex
 knee-jerk (patellar) reflex is monosynaptic reflex
 testing somatic reflexes helps diagnose many diseases
• Reciprocal inhibition prevents muscles from working against each other

The Patellar Tendon Reflex Arc

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 Basic Functional Anatomy of Deep Tendon Reflexes:
• Muscle spindles detect muscle length and stretch.
• When a muscle is stretch by tapping its tendon with a reflex hammer, that information is carried to
the spinal cord by a 1a afferent axon.
 The 1a fiber is a proprioceptive afferent, i.e. carries information about deep somatic
structures.
• The 1a fibers synapse directly on alpha motor neurons that innervate the muscle (monosynaptic).
• The alpha motor neurons fires and the muscle contracts.
• Alpha motor neurons innervating the antagonist muscle are inhibited.

Flexor Withdrawal Reflexes

• Occurs during withdrawal of foot from pain
• Polysynaptic reflex arc
• Neural circuitry in spinal cord controls sequence and duration of muscle contractions

Cross Extensor Reflexes

• Maintains balance by extending other leg
• Intersegmental reflex extends up and down the spinal cord
• Contralateral reflex arcs explained by pain at one foot causes muscle contraction in other leg
Golgi Tendon Reflex
• Proprioceptors in a tendon near its junction with a muscle -- 1mm long, encapsulated nerve bundle

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 • Excessive tension on tendon inhibits motor neuron
 muscle contraction decreased
• Also functions when muscle contracts unevenly

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