The frontopontine fibers or frontopontine tract are corticopontine fibers projecting from the cortex of the frontal lobe to the pons. In the

internal capsule The internal capsule is a paired white matter structure, as a two-way nerve tract, tract, carrying afferent nerve fiber, ascending and efferent nerve fiber, descending axon, fibers, to and from the cerebral cortex. The internal capsule is situate ...

, the fibers descend predominately in the anterior limb (but some also in the posterior limb), passing inferior to the

thalamus The thalamus (: thalami; from Greek language, Greek Wikt:θάλαμος, θάλαμος, "chamber") is a large mass of gray matter on the lateral wall of the third ventricle forming the wikt:dorsal, dorsal part of the diencephalon (a division of ...

to reach the mesencephalon (midbrain) where they descend in the medial portion of base of the cerebral peduncles. In the pons, the fibers flare out between the

pontine nuclei The pontine nuclei (or griseum pontis) are all the neurons of the ventral pons. Corticopontine fibres project from the primary motor cortex to the ipsilateral pontine nucleus; pontocerebellar fibers then relay the information to the contralater ...

Pathways

Some of the frontopontine fibers participate in a pathway contributing to horizontal conjugate gaze: *

Visual cortex The visual cortex of the brain is the area of the cerebral cortex that processes visual information. It is located in the occipital lobe. Sensory input originating from the eyes travels through the lateral geniculate nucleus in the thalam ...

→

frontal eye fields The frontal eye fields (FEF) are a region located in the frontal cortex, more specifically in Brodmann area 8 or BA8, of the primate brain. In humans, it can be more accurately said to lie in a region around the intersection of the middle frontal ...

(of the

middle frontal gyrus The middle frontal gyrus makes up about one-third of the frontal lobe of the human brain. (A gyrus is one of the prominent "bumps" or "ridges" on the cerebral cortex The cerebral cortex, also known as the cerebral mantle, is the outer la ...

) → frontopontine fibers → (contralateral)

paramedian pontine reticular formation The paramedian pontine reticular formation (PPRF) is a subset of neurons of the oral and caudal pontine reticular nuclei. With the abducens nucleus it makes up the horizontal gaze centre. It is situated in the pons adjacent to the abducens nu ...

→ (ipsilateral)

abducens nucleus The abducens nucleus is the originating nucleus from which the abducens nerve (VI) emerges—a cranial nerve nucleus. This nucleus is located beneath the fourth ventricle in the Anatomical terms of location#Rostral, cranial, and caudal, caudal por ...

and (contralateral)

oculomotor nucleus The fibers of the oculomotor nerve arise from a nucleus in the midbrain, which lies in the gray substance of the floor of the cerebral aqueduct and extends in front of the aqueduct for a short distance into the floor of the third ventricle. F ...

References

External links

Diagram at neuropat.dote.hu
Pons Frontal lobe Cerebral white matter {{neuroanatomy-stub