It could also reduce nociception, thermoception, and crude touch, but, since information from the spinothalamic tract is interpreted mainly by other areas of the brain ( see insular cortex and cingulate gyrus ), it is not as relevant as the other symptoms.
42.
New studies, presented at the neuroscience meeting by Lique Coolen of the University of Cincinnati and colleagues, are closing in on a " spinal ejaculation generator, " including a group of specialized " lumbar spinothalamic " cells in the spinal cord.
43.
In humans, temperature sensation from thermoreceptors enters the spinal cord along the axons of Lissauer's tract that synapse on second order neurons in grey matter of the decussate, joining the spinothalamic tract as they ascend to neurons in the ventral posterolateral nucleus of the thalamus.
44.
In the medulla, the ascending spinothalamic tract ( which carries pain-temperature information from the opposite side of the body ) is adjacent to the ascending spinal tract of the trigeminal nerve ( which carries pain-temperature information from the same side of the face ).
45.
A neuroanatomical review of the pain pathway, " Afferent pain pathways " by Almeida, describes various specific nociceptive pathways of the spinal cord : spinothalamic tract, spinoreticular tract, spinomesencephalic tract, spinoparabrachial tract, spinohypothalamic tract, spinocervical tract, postsynaptic pathway of the spinal column.
46.
This means that a lesion of the dorsal columns will cause loss of touch and proprioception below the lesion and on the same side as it, while a lesion of the spinothalamic tracts will cause loss of pain and temperature below the lesion and on the opposite side to it.
47.
The location of cord lesions affects presentation-for instance, a central lesion ( such as that of syringomyelia ) will knock out second order neurons of the spinothalamic tract as they cross the centre of the cord, and will cause loss of pain and temperature without loss of fine touch or proprioception.
48.
Loss of pain and temperature are due to damage to the lateral spinothalamic tracts, which cross the central part of the cord close to the level where they enter it and travel up the spinal column on the opposite side to the one they innervate ( i . e . they " ascend contralaterally " ).
49.
Note that a lesion of the lateral spinothalamic tract at a given level will not result in sensory loss for the dermatome of the same level; this is due to the fibers of the tract of Lissauer which transmit the neuron one or two levels above the affected segment ( thus bypassing the segmental lesion on the contralateral side ).
50.
In the central nervous system they can detect damage to the spinothalamic tract, lateral brain stem, and fibers carrying pain and temperature signals from the thalamus to the A delta ) fibers to the spinal cord, and LEPs can be used to determine whether a neuropathy is located in these small fibers as opposed to larger ( touch, vibration ) fibers.
