Ventral spinocerebellar tract

Ventral spinocerebellar tract
Ventral spinocerebellar tract is 4b, in blue at right.
Diagram of the principal fasciculi of the spinal cord. (Ventral spinocerebellar fasciculus visible at center left.)
Latin	tractus spinocerebellaris anterior, tractus spinocerebellaris ventralis
Gray's	subject #185 761

The ventral spinocerebellar tract conveys proprioceptive information from the body to the cerebellum. It is part of the somatosensory system and runs in parallel with the dorsal spinocerebellar tract. Both these tracts involve two neurons and end up on the same side of the body.

The ventral tract (under L2/L3) gets its proprioceptive/fine touch/vibration information from a first order neuron, with its cell body in a dorsal ganglion. The axon runs via the fila radicularia to the dorsal horn of the grey matter. There it makes a synapse with the dendrites of two neurons: they send their axons bilaterally to the ventral border of the lateral funiculi. The ventral spinocerebellar tract then enters the cerebellum via the superior cerebellar peduncle. This is in contrast with the dorsal spinocerebellar tract (C8 - L2/L3), which only has 1 unilateral axon that has its cell body in the Clarke's nuclei (only at the level of C8 - L2/L3). The fibers of the ventral spinocerebellar tract then eventually enter the cerebellum via the superior cerebellar peduncle. This is one of the few afferent tracts through the superior cerebellar peduncle.

Originates from ventral horn at lumbosacral spinal levels. Axons first cross midline in the spinal cord and run in the ventral border of the lateral funiculi. These axons ascend up to the pons where they join the superior cerebellar peduncle to enter the cerebellum. Once in the deep white matter of the cerebellum, the axons recross the midline, give off collaterals to the globose and emboliform nuclei, and terminate in the cortex of the anterior lobe and vermis of the posterior lobe.

Comparison with dorsal spinocerebellar tract

When the dorsal roots are cut in a cat performing a step cycle, the dorsal spinocerebellar tract has no activity with the loss of peripheral excitation, whereas the ventral spinocerebellar continues to show activity, implying that the dorsal spinocerebellar tract provides the spinocerebellum with sensory information during movement and the ventral spinocerebellar tract internally generated information about the movement. ^[1]

Synonyms

• anterior spinocerebellar tract
• Gowers' column
• Gowers' fasciculus
• Gowers' tract (named after Sir William Richard Gowers)

Additional images

Decussation of pyramids.

Superficial dissection of brain-stem. Lateral view.

Deep dissection of brain-stem. Lateral view.

References

External links

• NeuroNames hier-805
• anterior+spinocerebellar+tract at eMedicine Dictionary
• NIF Search - Anterior Spinocerebellar Tract via the Neuroscience Information Framework

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