Ascending and Descending tracts

of the spinal cord

NABILA BASHIR
MEDICAL TECHNOLOGIST
UNIVERSITY OF HEALTH SCIENCES LAHORE
PAKISTAN
 Ascending and Descending tracts of the
spinal cord
• The spinal cord has numerous groups of nerve
fibers going towards and coming from the
brain. These have been collectively called
the ascending and descending tracts of the
spinal cord, respectively. The tracts are
responsible for carrying sensory and motor
stimuli to and from the periphery
(respectively).
 Introduction
• Millions of sensory neurons are delivering
information to the CNS all the time • Millions
of motor neurons are causing the body to
respond in a variety of ways • Sensory and
motor neurons travel by different tracts within
the spinal cord
 Sensory and Motor Tracts
Communication to and from the brain involves tracts
• Ascending tracts are sensory
• Deliver information to the brain

• Descending tracts are motor

• Deliver information to the periphery
 Sensory and Motor Tracts
• Naming the tracts
• If the tract name begins with “spino” (as
in spinocerebellar), the tract is a sensory
tract delivering information from the
spinal cord to the cerebellum.
 Sensory and Motor Tracts
• If the tract name ends with “spinal” (as
in vestibulospinal), the tract is a motor
tract that delivers information from the
vestibular apparatus to the spinal cord.
Lateral spinothalamic tract carries information about pain
and temperature

Ventral spinothalamic tract transmits information about

crude touch and firm pressure.

Dorsal column tract carries the sensory modalities of

fine touch ,vibration,
proprioception,
Spinocerebellar tract Proprioception in joints and muscles

Cuneocerebellar tract Proprioception in joints and muscles

(like the spinocerebellar)

Spinotectal tract Tactile, painful, and thermal stimuli

Spinoreticular tract Integration of stimuli from joints and
muscles into the reticular formation

Spino-olivary tract Additional information to the cerebellum

as an accessory pathway

Corticospinal tract Voluntary, discrete, skilled motor

activities
Reticulospinal Regulation to voluntary movements and
tract reflexes

Rubrospinal tract Promotion of flexor and inhibition of

extensor muscle activity

Vestibulospinal Inhibition of flexor and promotion of

tract extensor muscle activity

Tectospinal tract Postural movements from visual stimuli