Lateral fasciculus proprius
Fasciculus proprius lateralis
Definition
Lateral fasciculus proprius (a.k.a. lateral propriospinal tract), is a short bundle of propriospinal nerve fibers located within the lateral funiculus, adjacent to the gray horns. These propriospinal neurons originate from cells inside the gray matter, branching into both ascending and descending fibers within the medial part of the lateral funiculus. After travelling up and down a few segments of the cord, they re-enter the gray matter to synapse. This forms the lateral propriospinal tract, an intrinsic spinal cord pathway that links different spinal segments, enabling intersegmental communication.
Similar propriospinal tracts reside in the posterior and anterior fasciculi, named the posterior fasciculus proprius and the anterior fasciculus proprius, also play key roles in intersegmental coordination, faciliatating integration across spinal cord segments.
References
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
