MODULE 5
THE MEDIAL PATHWAY
- - Whether or not the concept of lateral and medial descending motor systems, stated most clearly in Blumenfeld's Table 6.3, remains useful is open to question. Neither Fitzgerald nor Haines make use of it. But what is certain is that the pathways listed as part of the medial system in the table are real and have something in common. The neurons contributing axons to these pathways are all found in brainstem nuclei and all the pathways descend either in the anterior funiculus (or the ventral part of the lateral funiculus) of the spinal cord. See Blumenfeld's Table 6.3 or Fitzgerald pages 197-9 for a brief summary of details.
- - To look at how these pathways originate and descend through the brainstem and spinal cord use Figure 5-16.
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