Spinal Cord Anatomy CLOSE

Spinocervicothalamic Pathway

In carnivores, the spinocervicothalamic pathway is an important pain pathway. The pathway is unusual because it has two spinal projection neurons (and thus four instead of the usual three neurons for conscious pathways). The first projection neuron runs from the dorsal horn to the ipsilateral lateral cervical nucleus (located only in segments C1 & 2). The axon of the second projection neuron, arising in the lateral cervical nucleus, decussates and runs to the contralateral thalamus. Thalamic neurons project to the somesthetic area of the cerebral cortex.

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