Book - An Atlas of the Medulla and Midbrain 9

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Sabin FR. and Knower H. An atlas of the medulla and midbrain, a laboratory manual (1901) Baltimore: Friedenwald.

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This 1901 book by Florence Rena Sabin (1871 - 1953) and her collaborator presents one of the very earliest atlases of the human central nervous system, describing the midbrain and brainstem. This atlas was extremely useful for later researchers attempting to both understand the development and mapping of the midbrain and medulla. Florence Sabin later work was as a key historic researcher in early 1900's establishing our early understanding of both vascular and lymphatic development in the embryo.



Modern Notes: Medulla | Mesencephalon | Florence Sabin

Neural Links: ectoderm | neural | neural crest | ventricular | sensory | Stage 22 | gliogenesis | neural fetal | Medicine Lecture - Neural | Lecture - Ectoderm | Lecture - Neural Crest | Lab - Early Neural | neural abnormalities | folic acid | iodine deficiency | Fetal Alcohol Syndrome | neural postnatal | neural examination | Histology | Historic Neural | Category:Neural


Neural Tube Development
Neural Tube Primary Vesicles Secondary Vesicles Adult Structures
week 3 week 4 week 5 adult
neural plate
neural groove
neural tube

Brain
prosencephalon (forebrain) telencephalon Rhinencephalon, Amygdala, hippocampus, cerebrum (cortex), hypothalamus‎, pituitary | Basal Ganglia, lateral ventricles
diencephalon epithalamus, thalamus, Subthalamus, pineal, posterior commissure, pretectum, third ventricle
mesencephalon (midbrain) mesencephalon tectum, Cerebral peduncle, cerebral aqueduct, pons
rhombencephalon (hindbrain) metencephalon cerebellum
myelencephalon medulla oblongata, isthmus
spinal cord, pyramidal decussation, central canal
Historic Disclaimer - information about historic embryology pages 
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Pages where the terms "Historic" (textbooks, papers, people, recommendations) appear on this site, and sections within pages where this disclaimer appears, indicate that the content and scientific understanding are specific to the time of publication. This means that while some scientific descriptions are still accurate, the terminology and interpretation of the developmental mechanisms reflect the understanding at the time of original publication and those of the preceding periods, these terms, interpretations and recommendations may not reflect our current scientific understanding.     (More? Embryology History | Historic Embryology Papers)

Chapter IX. Formation Reticulaeis Alba et Geisea

Formatio Though the formatio reticularis is represented in the model for a the most part merely by a space, nevertheless certain of its relations can be made quite clear. In considering the three regions of the model, each is characterized, first, by a special form of the sensory or central fibre-mass, and second, by nuclei limited to the region. For example, the medulla oblongata has the vertical medial sheet and the olive; the pons has the horizontal sheet and the pontal nuclei, while the midbrain has the oblique-lateral sheet and the nucleus ruber and substantia nigra, which have, as has been said, a common bed of cells.

The position of the formatio reticularis has a definite relation to these main structures. It lies dorsal to the large nucleus of the region in every case. In the medulla oblongata it lies dorsal to the inferior olive and lateral to the vertical sheet; in the pons, it lies dorsal both to the pontal nuclei and to the pontal sheet, that is, the sheet forms a boundary between the pontal nuclei and the formatio reticularis. In the midbrain, the formatio reticularis lies dorsal to the nucleus ruber and the substantia nigra, but here the fibre-sheet is reversed in position as compared with the medulla oblongata, for it lies lateral rather than medial.

Plate V

The reticular area of the medulla oblongata is best seen from the side (Plate V); the pontal and midbrain reticular areas from the dorsal aspect in Plate vn, and the midbrain area in Plate vm.

The intrinsic structures of the formatio reticularis are its long and short fibre-tracts and its cells, both the diffuse areas and the more or less definite nuclei.

The longitudinal section in Fig. 9 gives a comprehensive view of the entire formatio reticularis. It is bounded medially by the fasciculus longitudinalis medialis and the stratum profundum album; laterally by the nucleus funiculi gracilis and the nucleus funiculi cuneati, the corpus restiforme, the sensory cerebral nuclei and the lemniscus lateralis. In this section several points are to be noted: (1) the large number of longitudinal fibres, some of which seem to run the entire length of the formatio reticularis; (2) the comparatively even distribution of these fibres; (3) the large number of cells, and (4) the absence at this level of special groups or nuclei, for the whole area seems to be one continuous nucleus. This section may be taken as a type of the dorsal area of the formatio reticularis.

This level of the formatio reticularis is in contrast to a level farther ventral (Fig. 13). Here we have the longitudinal fibres and the cells again ; but the fibres run in fairly definite bundles and the cells form fairly definite nuclei. The first level was undifferentiated and showed fibres extending through the whole length of the medulla oblongata, pons and midbrain, while this level is distinctly differentiated and shows shorter tracts breaking up into nuclei. For example, distal to the radix 1ST. abducentis is the middle part of the medulla sheet, namely, its formatio reticularis Bundle; and proximal to the root of the E". abducens the fibrebundle turns lateral ward and splits into two parts, a medial and a lateral.

These two longitudinal fibre-bundles can be traced from the region just proximal to the E". abducens through the pons and into the midbrain; the fibres pass directly through the brachium conjunctivum. The more centrally placed of these longitudinal fibres run to the border of the central gray masses and there end abruptly, while the more lateral fibres end indefinitely in a great cell area in the midbrain, namely, the nucleus lateralis superior of Flechsig. The fibres from the decussatio tegmenti dorsalis of Meynert turn spinalward and pass through the formatio reticularis of the pons. They cannot be separated as a distinct bundle.

The formatio reticularis area of the entire section is one large nucleus; nevertheless five fairly distinct groups of cells can be differentiated within it. The first of these is the nucleus centralis inferior, which lies in the medulla sheet distal to the radix N". abducentis (Plate vi, Fig. 35). The second, the nucleus reticularis tegmenti, lies between the formatio reticularis fibres just proximal to the E". abducens (Plate vm, Fig. 40). The third, the nucleus centralis superior medialis, lies between the two medial fibrebundles in the proximal part of the pons (Plate vm, Fig. 42). In Plate vin the curve of the formatio reticularis bundle corresponds to this nucleus. The fourth nucleus is the nucleus centralis superior lateralis, which lies at the same level as the third but farther lateral. It occupies the hollow of the brachium conjunctivum (Plate vm, Fig. 42). The fifth is the nucleus lateralis superior, or formatio reticularis grisea of the midbrain (Plate vm).

As has been said, besides these fibre-bundles and nuclei, the section in Fig. 13 shows a diffuse formatio reticularis area extending throughout the section and lying lateral from the tracts just considered. This lateral area is in contrast to the lateral area of the more dorsal level. The longitudinal fibres are almost entirely wanting, their place being taken by transverse fibres or internal arcuates. These fibres are so delicate that they show better in transverse section (cf. Fig. 30). Beside the definite arcuate bunbles from the dorsal funiculi of the cord and the decussating fibres of the brachium conjunctivum, the entire area from the proximal limit of the fasciculus cuneatus to the level of the motor root of the ~N. trigeminus shows numbers of delicate arcuate fibres cut in cross-section. This area corresponds in extent to that of the tractus spinalis IN", trigemini, and doubtless many of these fibres come from its nucleus.

It will make the formatio reticularis more interesting to compare with two sections, one taken dorsal to the level of the formatio reticularis and the other ventral. In the first place Fig. 6 lies dorsal to the formatio reticularis. This might be called the level of the dorsal cerebral nuclei or the level of the central gray matter and its differentiated nuclei. The longitudinal fibres of the formatio reticularis have disappeared, and the following nuclei of the cerebral nerves are visible, the !N". glossopharyngeus, 1ST. vagus, E". acusticus, "N. facialis and "N. trigeminus. Moreover, the central area of the section is a mass of cells around the central canal. The ventral level, on the other hand, as seen in Fig. 20, is the level of the main regional nuclei, the olive, the pontal nuclei, the substantia nigra and nucleus ruber. At this level there are no nuclei of cerebral nerves nor fibres of the formatio reticularis. It is, in fact, a non-medullated area in which the motor fibres, that are soon to characterize this level (i. e., pyramidal tract), can just be seen, as lines of brown stain on the sections.

In the reticular area of the medulla are two longitudinal tracts, first, the descending bundle from Deiters' nucleus to the spinal cord (Plate v), and second, the tract described as extending from Burdach's nucleus up to the region of the nucleus ambiguus (Plate vii, Fig. 12) (Tr. fr. Nu. D. and F. c. to F. r.).

It will be noted in both of the sections (Figs. 9 and 13) that the formatio reticularis region does not reach either the proximal or the distal limit of the section; that is to say, the formatio reticularis of the model region is not connected with the cord, nor yet with the hypothalamic region at so dorsal a level. This is due to the cervical and the midbrain curves. The model shows this point well. A cross-section of the spinal cord, showing its reticular area is to be seen in Plate v. The fibres of this area must curve over the dorsal surface of the olive to enter the formatio reticularis area of the medulla oblongata. On the other hand, the proximal connection shows best in Plate vm, where the transition is made just over the dorsal capsule of the nucleus ruber. It is not necessary to say that it is impossible to limit exactly the dorsal capsule from the formatio reticularis; indeed, Forel says that the formatio reticularis enters into the formation of the capsule of the nucleus ruber. Fig. 16 shows these relations clearly, for at either end of the section is to be seen an area of formatio reticularis.

Beside the large diffuse cell-masses of the formatio reticularis and the more definite cell-groups connected with the longitudinal tracts, there are scattered in the formatio reticularis certain definite little masses of cells. They are situated on either side of the brachium conjuiictivum sheet in its ventral course from the cerebellum to the decussation (Plates in and iv).



Historic Disclaimer - information about historic embryology pages 
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Pages where the terms "Historic" (textbooks, papers, people, recommendations) appear on this site, and sections within pages where this disclaimer appears, indicate that the content and scientific understanding are specific to the time of publication. This means that while some scientific descriptions are still accurate, the terminology and interpretation of the developmental mechanisms reflect the understanding at the time of original publication and those of the preceding periods, these terms, interpretations and recommendations may not reflect our current scientific understanding.     (More? Embryology History | Historic Embryology Papers)


An Atlas of the Medulla and Midbrain (1901): Chapter I. Introductory | Chapter II. The Long Tracts | Chapter III. The Columns Of The Spinal Cord | Chapter IV. Cerebellar Peduncles | Chapter V. The Cerebral Nerves And Their Nuclei | Chapter VI. The Cerebral Nerves And Their Nuclei (Continued). Lateral Group | Chapter VII. The Inferior And Accessory Olives | Chapter VIII. The Midbrain | Chapter IX. The Formatio Reticularis Alba And Grisea | General Summary of what Is shown In Reconstruction | References To Literature | Abbreviations | Description of Figures and Plates


Cite this page: Hill, M.A. (2024, March 19) Embryology Book - An Atlas of the Medulla and Midbrain 9. Retrieved from https://embryology.med.unsw.edu.au/embryology/index.php/Book_-_An_Atlas_of_the_Medulla_and_Midbrain_9

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