Medical Corticospinal Tract: Explaining the Stretch Reflex

  • Thread starter Thread starter Roxy
  • Start date Start date
AI Thread Summary
The stretch reflex is a rapid neural response that occurs when a muscle is quickly stretched, leading to its immediate contraction. This reflex involves a sensory neuron, an interneuron in the spinal cord, and a motor neuron. While the corticospinal tract connects the brain to the spinal cord, its role in the stretch reflex is indirect. Higher brain centers influence this reflex, and damage to the corticospinal tract, such as from a stroke, can result in exaggerated stretch reflexes. This occurs because the corticospinal projections normally provide inhibitory signals that help regulate and smooth muscle contractions, preventing excessive responses to stretching.
Roxy
Messages
52
Reaction score
0
Can someone explain it to me? I know it goes from the brain to the spinal cord but what does it have to do with the stretch relex??

Thanks
 
Biology news on Phys.org
yes but I don't know what it has to do with the stretch reflex
 
Hi,

The stretch reflex is the quickest neural loop in our body. If you strectch a muscle quickly this one contracts. It involves a sensitive neuron, an inter-neuron in spinal cord and a motor neuron.

But, this reflex is actually somehow contradicted since we feel the stretch and thus higher centres are certainly involved.
 
Corticospinal projections have an indirect role in stretch reflex. This is particularly evident in people with strokes affecting this tract. In them, the stretch reflexes are exaggerated. This is because the corticospinal projections provide an inhibitory drive to the stretch reflex preventing it from overcompensating for stretch and helps in smoothing the muscle contractions.
 

Thread 'Chagas disease now established in US'

Chagas disease, long considered only a threat abroad, is established in California and the Southern U.S. According to articles in the Los Angeles Times, "Chagas disease, long considered only a threat abroad, is established in California and the Southern U.S.", and "Kissing bugs bring deadly disease to California". LA Times requires a subscription. Related article -...
View full post »

Thread 'I need help understanding this quote about recent Natural Selection'

I am reading Nicholas Wade's book A Troublesome Inheritance. Please let's not make this thread a critique about the merits or demerits of the book. This thread is my attempt to understanding the evidence that Natural Selection in the human genome was recent and regional. On Page 103 of A Troublesome Inheritance, Wade writes the following: "The regional nature of selection was first made evident in a genomewide scan undertaken by Jonathan Pritchard, a population geneticist at the...
View full post »

Thread 'Fermentation using mixed legume and grain feedstock'

I use ethanol for cleaning glassware and resin 3D prints. The glassware is sometimes used for food. If possible, I'd prefer to only keep one grade of ethanol on hand. I've made sugar mash, but that is hardly the least expensive feedstock for ethanol. I had given some thought to using wheat flour, and for this I would need a source for amylase enzyme (relevant data, but not the core question). I am now considering animal feed that I have access to for 20 cents per pound. This is a...
View full post »

Similar threads

Neuron's location and signal exchange with the rest of the body
Replies
8
Views
2K
Jeff Beck died abruptly from bacterial meningitis
Replies
7
Views
3K
Medical Innovative ideas and technologies to help folks with disabilities
Replies
9
Views
4K
Effectiveness of saline water against respiratory tract viruses
Replies
2
Views
1K
Why can't spinal anaesthesia work from chest down?
Replies
8
Views
4K
Neuron lengths, sizes and quantity
Replies
14
Views
4K
I Do vocal tract resonances assist a singer's pitch control?
Replies
12
Views
2K
Why Apes and Humans don't have Tails
Replies
8
Views
3K
Does CNS in spine have single fiber per inervated muscle?
Replies
3
Views
2K
Medical Electrical stimulation of the Vagus nerve may relieve treatment-resistant depression
Replies
1
Views
2K

Hot Threads

Recent Insights

Back
Top