The whole vertebral column in profile along the curves it actually has, every bone drawn with its body, its arch around the canal and its spinous process, labelled C1 to the coccyx, with thirty-one pairs of nerve roots leaving it, the cord ending in a cone and the cauda equina below. Beside it, a ring of the three coverings — dura, arachnoid and pia — with the fluid space between them.
Cervical regionEight segments, C1–C8. The nerves to the diaphragm, the shoulders and the arms leave from here.
Lumbar regionFive segments, L1–L5. The nerves to the hips and legs leave from here.
Ventral hornThe front part of the butterfly. The motor neurons that drive muscles directly sit here.
Ventral rootThe bundle of fibres leaving the cord in front, carrying motor commands out to the muscles.
Corticospinal tractA descending path from the motor cortex to the motor neurons. It carries voluntary movement and crosses to the other side in the brainstem.
Motor signsWeakness, loss of voluntary movement, a change in tone. What exactly, and where, depends on the level and the completeness.
Central cord syndromeDamage mainly to the central part of the cord, most often in the neck. Its characteristic sign is that the arms are affected more than the legs.
Anterior cord syndromeDamage to the anterior two thirds of the cross-section, often related to blood supply. Movement and the sense of pain and temperature are changed, while the sense of position is largely preserved.
Identifiers
DOI: 10.32598/bcn.2021.1422.1
PubMed ID: 37313020
PMCID: PMC10258590
Claims this paper bears on
Partially supports — The locomotor benefit of chondroitinase ABC after spinal cord injury is not modified by follow-up duration or by the locomotor scoring scale used.
Partially supports — The locomotor benefit of chondroitinase ABC after spinal cord injury is not modified by the injury model, the injury severity, or the number of administrations.