Posterior fasciculus proprius
Fasciculus proprius posterior
- Synonym: Dorsal fasciculus proprius
- Related terms: Posterior fasciculus proprius; Dorsal fasciculus proprius
Definition
Posterior fasciculus proprius (a.k.a. posterior propriospinal tract) refers to the short axons of neurons that arise from cells inside the posterior column. These split up into ascending and descending branches which move up and down inside the ventral part of posterior fasciculus, in close proximity to the gray matter. These ascending and descending branches form a short neuronal tract–the posterior propriospinal tract–which is totally confined within the spinal cord and gives off collateral and terminal branches to synapse with neuronal cell bodies in the gray matter.
Similar propriospinal tracts reside in the lateral and anterior fasciculi, as well. These include the lateral 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
