Name:

Wahid Jameel
Roll call:
2182
Class:
2 YEAR MBBS
nd

Submission:
Dr. Gulrukh
Signature:
.
Spinal Cord
Anatomy:
• Runs through the vertebral canal
• Extends from foramen magnum to second
lumbar vertebra
• Regions
– Cervical
– Thoracic
– Lumbar
– Sacral
– Coccygeal
• Gives rise to 31 pairs of spinal nerves
– All are mixed nerves
• Not uniform in diameter
– Cervical enlargement: supplies upper limbs
– Lumbar enlargement: supplies lower limbs
• Conus medullaris- tapered inferior end
– Ends between L1 and L2
• Cauda equina - origin of spinal nerves
extending inferiorly from conus medullaris.
 Figure:1

MENINGES:
• Connective tissue membranes
– Dura mater: outermost layer; continuous
with epineurium of the spinal nerves
– Arachnoid mater: thin and wispy
 – Pia mater: bound tightly to surface
• Forms the filum terminale
– anchors spinal cord to coccyx
• Forms the denticulate ligaments that
attach the spinal cord to the dura
• Spaces
– Epidural: external to the dura
• Anesthetics injected here
• Fat-fill
– Subdural space: serous fluid
– Subarachnoid: between pia and arachnoid
• Filled with CSF

Figure:2
CROSS SECTION OF
SPINAL CORD:
• Anterior median fissure and posterior median
sulcus
– deep clefts partially separating left and
right halves
• Gray matter: neuron cell bodies, dendrites,
axons
– Divided into horns
• Posterior (dorsal) horn
• Anterior (ventral) horn
• Lateral horn
• White matter
– Myelinated axons
– Divided into three columns (funiculi)
• Ventral
• Dorsal
• lateral
 – Each of these divided into sensory or
motor tracts
• Commissures: connections between left and
right halves
– Gray with central canal in the center
– White
• Roots
– Spinal nerves arise as rootlets then
combine to form dorsal and ventral roots
– Dorsal and ventral roots merge laterally
and form the spinal nerve

Figure:3
ORGANIZATION OF
GRAY MATTER OF
SPINAL CORD:
• Recall, it is divided into horns
– Dorsal, lateral (only in thoracic region),
and ventral
• Dorsal half – sensory roots and ganglia
• Ventral half – motor roots
• Based on the type of neurons/cell bodies
located in each horn, it is specialized further
into 4 regions
– Somatic sensory (SS) - axons of somatic
sensory neurons
– Visceral sensory (VS) - neurons of visceral
sensory neur.
– Visceral motor (VM) - cell bodies of
visceral motor neurons

– Somatic motor (SM) - cell bodies of

somatic motor neurons
Figure:4

ORGANIZATION OF
WHITE MATTER OF
SPINAL CORD:
• Divided into three funiculi (columns)
– posterior, lateral, and anterior
– Columns contain 3 different types of fibers
(Ascend., Descend., Trans.)
 • Fibers run in three directions
– Ascending fibers - compose the sensory
tracts
– Descending fibers - compose the motor
tracts
– Commissural (transverse) fibers - connect
opposite sides of cord

Figure:5
Figure:6

SLIDE STAINING:
 Cross section of the spinal cord
stained with cresyl violet.
 Cresyl violet is a basic dye that
binds nucleic acids and
preferentially stains RNA.
 Incross-section, the spinal cord is
divided into the butterfly-shaped
grey matter and surrounding
white matter