The ventral trigeminal tract, ventral trigeminothalamic tract, anterior trigeminal tract, or anterior trigeminothalamic tract, is a tract composed of second order neuronal

axon An axon (from Greek ἄξων ''áxōn'', axis), or nerve fiber (or nerve fibre: see spelling differences), is a long, slender projection of a nerve cell, or neuron, in vertebrates, that typically conducts electrical impulses known as action ...

s. These fibers carry sensory information about discriminative and crude touch, conscious proprioception, pain, and temperature from the head, face, and oral cavity. The ventral trigeminal tract connects the two major components of the brainstem trigeminal complex – the principal, or main sensory nucleus and the

spinal trigeminal nucleus The spinal trigeminal nucleus is a nucleus in the medulla that receives information about deep/crude touch, pain, and temperature from the ipsilateral face. In addition to the trigeminal nerve (CN V), the facial (CN VII), glossopharyngeal (CN IX ...

, 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

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 ventral trigeminal tract is also called the anterior

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 ...

Structure

The first order neurons (from the trigeminal ganglion) enter the pons and synapse in the principal (chief sensory) nucleus or

. Axons of the second order neurons cross the midline and terminate in the

of the contralateral

(as opposed to the

ventral posterolateral nucleus The ventral posterolateral nucleus (VPL) is a nucleus of the thalamus. Together with the ventral posteromedial nucleus (VPM), ventral posterior inferior nucleus (VPI) and ventromedial posterior nucleus (VMpo), it constitutes the ventral posteri ...

, as in the dorsal column medial lemniscus (DCML) system). The third order neuron in the thalamus then connects 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

* Anthoney, T. R. (1993). Neuroanatomy and the neurologic exam: a thesaurus of synonyms, similar-sounding non-synonyms, and terms of variable meaning. CRC Press. * Norton, N. S. (2016). ''Netter's head and neck anatomy for dentistry''. Elsevier Health Sciences.

External links

Trigeminothalamic tracts (Netter image)
* https://www.dartmouth.edu/~rswenson/NeuroSci/chapter_7B.html * http://www.medilexicon.com/medicaldictionary.php?t=48738 {{Authority control Thalamic connections Trigeminal nerve

Structure

See also

References

Sources

External links