The spinothalamic tract pathway is an imperative sensory pathway in human survival because it enables one to move away from noxious stimuli by carrying pain and temperature information from the skin to the thalamus where it is processed and transmitted to the primary sensory cortex.Aug 11, 2021
The spinothalamic tractThe spinothalamic tract is an ascending pathway of the spinal cord. Together with the medial lemnicus, it is one of the most important sensory pathways of the nervous system. It is responsible for the transmission of pain, temperature, and crude touch to the somatosensory region of the thalamus.
The ascending pathways that mediate pain consist of three different tracts: the neospinothalamic tract, the paleospinothalamic tract and the archispinothalamic tract. The first-order neurons are located in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) for all three pathways.
The somatosensory system consists of the two main paired pathways that take somatosensory information up to the brain: the medial lemniscal or posterior pathway, and the spinothalamic or anterolateral pathway. The somatosensory pathways are made up of a relay of four neurons.
Thus there are two major ascending pathways for pain: a direct lateral spinothalamic pathway and an indirect medial spinoreticulothalamic pathway.
These fibers, together with axons from second-order lamina I neurons, form the spinothalamic tract, the major ascending pathway for information about pain and temperature.
Pain and temperature After joining the spinal cord, the fibres cross after ascending 1–2 segments and synapse in Lissauer's tract. From there, the fibres ascend as the lateral or anterior spinothalamic tract, and terminate in the ventral posterior nucleus of the thalamus.
Somatosensory receptors The sensations are transmitted via the peripheral nerves to the dorsal root ganglion, which houses the first-order neuron for the somatosensory system.Jul 12, 2013
The four steps of pain signaling and processing The neurophysiologic underpinnings of pain can be divided into four stages: transduction, transmission, pain modulation, and perception.
A somatosensory pathway will typically have three long neurons: primary, secondary, and tertiary. The first always has its cell body in the dorsal root ganglion of the spinal nerve.Aug 13, 2020
Sensory pathways consist of the chain of neurons, from receptor organ to cerebral cortex, that are responsible for the perception of sensations. Somatosensory stimuli activate a chain of neurons starting with the peripheral first-order (1°) afferent and ending in the cerebral cortex (e.g., Figure 4.1).
1 – Ascending Sensory Pathways of the Spinal Cord: The dorsal column system and spinothalamic tract are the major ascending pathways that connect the periphery with the brain. The trigeminal pathway carries somatosensory information from the face, head, mouth, and nasal cavity.