Lateral fasciculus proprius
Fasciculus proprius lateralis
Definition
Lateral fasciculus proprius (a.k.a. lateral propriospinal tract) refers to the short axons of neurons that arise from cells inside the gray matter. These ascend or descend inside the medial part of lateral fasciculus–in close proximity to the gray matter–and eventually re-enter the gray matter. These ascending and descending branches form a short neuronal tract, called the lateral propriospinal tract, which is totally confined within the spinal cord.
Similar propriospinal tracts reside in the posterior and anterior fasciculi, as well. These include the posterior fasciculus proprius and the anterior fasciculus proprius. Collectively, these propriospinal tracts play an important role in mediating intersegmental coordination.
References
Text written by Muhammad A. Javaid, MD, PhD © 2022 IMAIOS.
Standring, S. and Gray, H. (2016). ‘Chapter 20: Spinal cord: Internal Organization’ in Gray’s anatomy The anatomical Basis of Clinical Practice. (41st ed.) New York: Elsevier, pp. 296.
Wikipedia. Proper fasciculi. [Updated 2018 Jun 01]. In: Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0. Available from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proper_fasciculi
