Karen flores

Assenet Pascual
Paloma Priscila
Tania Sanchez
Aime Murillo
Alberto Moreno
 The development of the spinal cord

has already been explained on. More

than any other part of the CNS,

knowledge of the embryological

development of the spinal cord

facilitates the understanding of its

structure and function after birth.

This is why its developement will be

briefly reviewed and highlighted.

 • The spinal cord as a part of the

CNS derives from the neural tube.

A cross- section through the early

neural tube (a) shows a central

fluid filled (cerebrospinal fluid)

lumen, which is surrounded by so-

called “plates”:
– the unpaired floor and roof

plate as well as
– the paired basal and alar

plates.
Between basal and alar plates lies an intermediate

zone (zona intermedia). Numerous neurons develop

In the basal and alar plate as well as in the

intermediate zone. They form the gray matter as a

result of which these areas enlarge and increasingly

constrict the lumen leading to the formation of the

central canal of the spinal cord (c), which may

become even obstructed in some regions. In the adult

spinal cord, the three gray columns are referred to as

anterior, lateral, and posterior horns.

The processes (axons) emerging from

neurons or the axons arriving from other

neurons form the white matter, which

topographically can be divided into three

columns (funiculi) and functionally into

numerous tracts. The white matter surrounds

the gray matter.

Morphologically, the gray matter which is

surrounded by white matter on all sides, is

considered a nucleus or nuclear group. Each

of the three horns can be assigned one main

function according to their neurons: anterior

horn: somatomotor function; posterior horn:

somatic sensation; lateral horn: control of the

autonomic functions of organs.

Anteriosuperior view of a spinal cord segment as well as a spinal nerve. The

spinal cord is a continuous structure located in the vertebral canal. A

segmental functional or morphological distinction is not precisely

identifiable. The spinal cord as part of the CNS is continuously connected

with the PNS via nerve rootlets. These nerve rootlets are groups of axons,

which
• exit the spinal cord on ist anterior aspect (typically axons of

motor neurons, which terminate in an target organ or autonomic

ganglion) or
• enter the spinal cord on its posterior aspect (typically axons of
sensory neurons, which carry information from a receptor).
 The spinal columns consist of segements

corresponding to the indivdual vertebrae

which means that the vertebral canal itself is

divided. It virtually determines a segmental

arrangement of the continious spinal cord. It is

only at the openings between individual

vertebrae at the intervertebral foramina that

the rootlets that form the spinal nerves can

either enter or exit the vertebral canal. They

don’t do that individually but in bundles in form

of a root (radix):
• The anterior root lets form a anterior root.
• The posterior root lets form a posterior

root.
Both roots merge to form the spinal nerve (N. spinalis). The

rootlets, roots, and spinal nerve are parts of the PNS.

Functionally, a spinal cord segment is based a longitudinal

division of the spinal cord, which contains the cell bodies of

motor neurons that form precisely one anterior root. Each

spinal segment (which is a continous part of the CNS) is

therefore connected with a spinal nerve (which is a

discontinous part of the PNS).

Note: The posterior root is not “involved” in the

functional definition because the fibers entering the

spinal cord through the posterior root don’t always

end on neurons located at the same level of the

spinal cord.
 Since the spinal nerve consists of

(motor) anterior root and (sensory)

posterior root, it has mixed functions.

The only exception among the spinal

nerves: the spinal nerve from the C1

segment does not have a posterior

root (thus there are no posterior

rootlets): it is exclusively motor.