Lateral horn of spinal cord - Spinal cord - Grey substance - e-Anatomy
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Lateral horn of spinal cord

Cornu lateralis medullae spinalis

  • Latin synonym: Columna grisea lateralis
  • Related terms: Lateral horn

Definition

Lateral horn of spinal cord refers to a lateral sideways extension of the lateral intermediate substance (lamina VII). It can be found only in the thoracic and upper lumbar spinal segments (T1 to L2) and therefore does not extend throughout the length of the spinal cord.

The lateral horn of spinal cord contains an aggregation of neuronal cell bodies that constitute the intermediolateral nucleus (C8 to L3 spinal segments). The nucleus gives rise to preganglionic sympathetic neuronal efferent neurons, which reach out to the sympathetic chain ganglia on either side of the vertebral column. Within the sympathetic chain, the preganglionic neurons either synapse immediately inside the ganglia or ascend and descend within the sympathetic chain to synapse with ganglia above and below for accessing the cervical and pelvic regions, respectively.

References

Text written by Muhammad A. Javaid, MD, PhD © 2022 IMAIOS.

  • Snell, R.S. (2010). ‘Chapter 4: The Spinal Cord and the Ascending and Descending Tracts’, in Clinical Neuroanatomy. (7th ed.) Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer Health/Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, pp. 137-142.

  • Byrne, J.H. and Dafny, N. ‘Chapter 3: Anatomy of the Spinal Cord. [Content reviewed and revised 07 Oct 2020]. In Neuroanatomy Online, an open-access electronic laboratory for the neurosciences. McGovern Medical School at UTHealth; Accessed 2022 Oct 22. Available from: https://nba.uth.tmc.edu/neuroscience/m/s2/chapter03.html

  • Brown, A.G. (1982). Review article the dorsal horn of the spinal cord. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Physiology: Translation and Integration, 67(2), pp.193-212. https://doi.org/10.1113/expphysiol.1982.sp002630

  • Ganapathy, M.K., Reddy, V. and Tadi, P. Neuroanatomy, Spinal Cord Morphology. [Updated 2021 Oct 30]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2022 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK545206/

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