The dorsal trigeminal tract, dorsal trigeminothalamic tract, or posterior trigeminothalamic tract, is composed of second-order neuronal axons. These fibers carry sensory information about discriminative touch and conscious

proprioception Proprioception ( ), also referred to as kinaesthesia (or kinesthesia), is the sense of self-movement, force, and body position. It is sometimes described as the "sixth sense". Proprioception is mediated by proprioceptors, mechanosensory neurons ...

in the

oral cavity In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on t ...

from the principal (chief sensory) nucleus of the trigeminal nerve to the

ventral posteromedial The ventral posteromedial nucleus (VPM) is a Nucleus (neuroanatomy), nucleus of the thalamus. Inputs and outputs The VPM contains synapses between second and third order neurons from the Anterior trigeminothalamic tract, anterior (ventral) trigemi ...

(VPM) nucleus of the

thalamus The thalamus (from Greek θάλαμος, "chamber") is a large mass of gray matter located in the dorsal part of the diencephalon (a division of the forebrain). Nerve fibers project out of the thalamus to the cerebral cortex in all direction ...

. The dorsal trigeminothalamic tract is also called the posterior

trigeminal lemniscus The trigeminal lemniscus, also called the trigeminothalamic tract, is composed of the ventral trigeminal tract, and the dorsal trigeminal tract – nerve tracts that convey tactile, pain, and temperature impulses from the skin of the face, the ...

Pathway

The

first-order neurons In physiology, the somatosensory system is the network of neural structures in the brain and body that produce the perception of touch (haptic perception), as well as temperature (thermoception), body position (proprioception), and pain. It is ...

(from the trigeminal ganglion) enter the pons and synapse on second-order neurons in the principal (chief sensory) nucleus. Axons of the second-order neurons then decussate to enter the trigeminal lemniscus in the

midbrain The midbrain or mesencephalon is the forward-most portion of the brainstem and is associated with vision, hearing, motor control, sleep and wakefulness, arousal ( alertness), and temperature regulation. The name comes from the Greek ''mesos'', " ...

and then ascend to the

ventral posteromedial nucleus The ventral posteromedial nucleus (VPM) is a nucleus of the thalamus. Inputs and outputs The VPM contains synapses between second and third order neurons from the anterior (ventral) trigeminothalamic tract and posterior (dorsal) trigeminothalami ...

of the contralateral

, forming the

ventral trigeminothalamic tract The ventral trigeminal tract, ventral trigeminothalamic tract, anterior trigeminal tract, or anterior trigeminothalamic tract, is a tract composed of second order neuronal axons. These fibers carry sensory information about discriminative and crud ...

. A subset of these fibers do not decussate and travel to the ipsilateral ventral posteromedial nucleus of the thalamus. These non-decussating fibers give rise to the dorsal trigeminothalamic tract. The third order neurons in the thalamus ascend to the

sensory cortex The sensory cortex can refer informally to the primary somatosensory cortex, or it can be used as a term for the primary and secondary cortices of the different senses (two cortices each, on left and right hemisphere): the visual cortex on the ...

of the

postcentral gyrus In neuroanatomy, the postcentral gyrus is a prominent gyrus in the lateral parietal lobe of the human brain. It is the location of the primary somatosensory cortex, the main sensory receptive area for the sense of touch. Like other sensory areas, ...

References

Sources

* Siegel, A., & Sapru, H. N. (2006). ''Essential neuroscience''. Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. * Norton, N. S. (2016). ''Netter's head and neck anatomy for dentistry''. Elsevier Health Sciences. * Henssen D. J. H. A. (2016) "New Insights in Trigeminal Anatomy: A Double Orofacial Tract for Nociceptive Input" Frontiers in Neuroanatomy.

External links

Trigeminothalamic tracts (Netter image)
* http://www.medilexicon.com/medicaldictionary.php?t=48738 Trigeminal nerve Thalamic connections {{neuroanatomy-stub

Pathway

See also

References

Sources

External links