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The spinothalamic tract is a nerve tract in the anterolateral system in the spinal cord. [1] This tract is an ascending sensory pathway to the thalamus.From the ventral posterolateral nucleus in the thalamus, sensory information is relayed upward to the somatosensory cortex of the postcentral gyrus.
This tract was historically considered a cephalic division of the medial lemniscus due to the close proximity of the two ascending tracts. [2] Like the medial lemniscus in the dorsal column-medial lemniscus pathway (DCML), that carries mechanosensory information from part of the head and the rest of the body, the trigeminal lemniscus carries ...
It is part of the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway, which transmits touch, vibration sense, as well as the pathway for proprioception. [citation needed] The medial lemniscus carries axons from most of the body and terminates by synapsing with third-order neurons in the ventral posterolateral nucleus of the thalamus.
The ventral posteromedial nucleus (VPM) is a nucleus within the ventral posterior nucleus of the thalamus and serves an analogous somatosensory relay role for the ascending trigeminothalamic tracts as its lateral neighbour the ventral posterolateral nucleus serves for dorsal column–medial lemniscus pathway 2nd-order neurons.
The ventral posterolateral nucleus (VPL) is one of the subdivisions of the ventral posterior nucleus in the ventral nuclear group of the thalamus. [1] It relays sensory information from the second-order neurons of the neospinothalamic tract and medial lemniscus (of the dorsal column-medial lemniscus pathway) which synapse with the third-order neurons in the nucleus.
The spinothalamic tract thus decussates very soon after entering the spinal cord, ascending in the spinal cord, contralateral to the side from where it provides (pain and temperature) sensory information.
Midline intralaminar nuclei receive afferents from the brain stem, spinal cord, and cerebellum. Connections with the cerebral cortex and basal nuclei are reciprocal. Afferents from the spinothalamic tract as well as periaqueductal gray are part of a pathway involved in pain processing. [3]
The zona incerta receives pain input through the spinothalamic tract and this has been shown to control the activity of the pain transmission pathway in the posterior thalamus. [15] Electrical or chemical stimulation of the zona incerta creates limbic-related movements, such as those associated with defense orientation and copulation. [28]