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Title: Voluntary movements
Description: Anatomy and physiology course

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Voluntary movements

9
...
g
...
A decision to move is swiftly followed by
nerve impulses travelling to the appropriate muscles to make that movement
by following the appropriate pathway
...
7
...
Motor commands from cells in the grey matter
of the motor cortex initiate all voluntary movements and are modulated by
pathways from other regions, including basal ganglia and cerebellum
...
9
...


GREY MATTER
of the motor cortex

WHITE MATTER

corpus callosum
BASAL
GANGLIA
internal capsule
thalamus

axons of motor
neurons

spinal cord

pyramids in
medulla oblongata
decussation in
medulla oblongata

Fig
...
17 Coronal section of the brain showing how motor pathways descend towards
the spinal cord
...
31 Walking involves more
than the simple contraction and
relaxation of antagonistic pairs
of muscles
...


Pathway of the corticospinal tract (pyramidal tract)
• Nerve impulses originate in the motor cortex, are transmitted along motor
nerve fibres and pass through the pyramids of the medulla to the cervical
region of the spinal cord (k Fig
...
18)
• Decussation (crossing over) takes place to some of the fibres before they
reach the spinal cord, while other fibres continue down to the spinal cord
• Synapses in the ventral horns of the lumbar spinal cord transmit impulses
to the spinal nerve that supplies skeletal muscles
...
9
...

nerve impulses originate in the
motor cortex of the cerebrum

CEREBRUM

CEREBRUM

MIDBRAIN

MIDBRAIN

CEREBELLUM

CEREBELLUM

PONS

PONS

red nucleus

rubrospinal
tract
MEDULLA
OBLONGATA

MEDULLA
OBLONGATA

CERVICAL
SPINAL
CORD

CERVICAL
SPINAL
CORD

decussation
anterior
corticospinal
tract

skeletal
muscle

skeletal
muscle

skeletal
nerve

spinal nerve

LUMBAR
SPINAL
CORD

LUMBAR
SPINAL
CORD

lower motor neurons

Fig
...
18 Sections of the nervous system at different
levels to show the pathway of the corticospinal tract
...
9
...



Title: Voluntary movements
Description: Anatomy and physiology course