Basic Neuroanatomy
This plane of section divides a structure into right and left halves.
What is the sagittal plane?
These carry information toward the CNS, such as touch sensations traveling from the hand to the spinal cord.
What are afferent axons?
This nerve tract connects the cerebellum to the pons, medulla, and midbrain.
What are the cerebellar peduncles?
Located in the center of the cerebrum, these egg-shaped structures relay information to the cortex, process emotions, and regulate consciousness.
What is the thalamus?
The CSF-filled spaces within the brain that include two lateral ventricles, the third ventricle, and the fourth ventricle.
What are the ventricles?
These visible distinctions in the CNS involve neuron cell bodies and dendrites grouped together.
What is gray matter?
This term describes a grouping of neuronal cell bodies found in the peripheral nervous system.
What is a ganglion?
The long columns on the anterior medulla carrying motor fibers; about 90% of these fibers decussate at their lower end.
What are the medullary pyramids?
The deeply buried lobe of the brain often associated with taste, visceral sensation, and emotional context.
What is the insula?
These three layers — dura, arachnoid, and pia — surround and protect the brain and spinal cord.
What are the meninges?
A bundle of myelinated axons often described by names like “tract,” “fasciculus,” or “lemniscus.”
What is white matter?
In the central nervous system, a grouping of neuronal cell bodies is typically called this.
What is a nucleus?
These white-matter “stalks” connect the midbrain to the cerebrum and are part of the brainstem’s anterior aspect.
What are the cerebral peduncles?
This deep white-matter structure connects the two hemispheres and is a major highway for cross-hemispheric information flow.
What is the corpus callosum?
This ring of nine arteries at the base of the brain supplies blood to both the anterior and posterior cerebral circulation.
What is the Circle of Willis?
Rounded protrusions on the brain’s surface are called these, and grooves on the surface are called sulci.
What are gyri?
The two main divisions of the peripheral nervous system are the somatic nervous system and this one.
What is the autonomic nervous system?
The part of the brainstem containing equilibrium and cardiovascular regulatory centers.
What is the medulla?
The set of gray-matter structures including the caudate, putamen, and globus pallidus, important for movement and emotion.
What is the basal ganglia?
Formed by the union of vertebral arteries, this vessel runs along the front of the pons and bifurcates into two posterior cerebral arteries
What is the basilar artery?
This tall “vertical slice” dividing a structure into front (anterior) and back (posterior) portions.
What is the coronal plane?
These axons carry signals away from the CNS to muscles and glands.
What are efferent axons?
The collection of structures in the brainstem through which all tracts carrying motor and sensory information travel.
What is the brainstem itself (the midbrain, pons, and medulla)?
Known for processing memory for facts and events, this structure is critical for forming new memories.
What is the hippocampus?
Branching from the internal carotid arteries, this artery supplies blood primarily to the lateral portions of the frontal, parietal, and temporal lobes.
What is the middle cerebral artery (MCA)?