Abstract
The spinal cord is a long structure that extends from the post-cervical segment, lotated just caudal to the foramen magnum, to the conus medullaris which, in adults, is located at about the L1vertebral level. The spinal nerve roots leave the cord by passing slightly caudally to reach the appropriate intervertebral foramina on each side, the ventral and dorsal nerve roots fusing just distal to the posterior root ganglion to form mixed motor and sensory roots. These nerve roots form major branching plexuses in the cervical and lumbosacral regions in which the peripheral nerves innervating the limbs are formed but, in the thoracic region, the mixed nerve roots remain separate and form intercostal nerves. Thus the segmental organization of the human spinal cord reflects the underlying metameric differentiation of body segments in other species.
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Schwartz, M.S., Swash, M. (1992). Neurophysiological Investigation of the Spinal Cord. In: Critchley, E., Eisen, A. (eds) Diseases of the Spinal Cord. Clinical Medicine and the Nervous System. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3353-7_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-3353-7_9
Publisher Name: Springer, London
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