Lab 5 (ƒ8) - Higher Motor Function
Cortical Projections
Descending axons from motor areas of the cerebral cortex travel through the posterior limb of the internal capsule. You will be tracing the course of the motor corticofugal fibers from the cerebral cortex to the midbrain.
The corticofugal fibers originate from layer V, the internal pyramidal layer of the cerebral cortex. They form a continuous pathway from the cortex, through the basal ganglia and diencephalon (identifiable as the internal capsule), through the brain stem (identifiable as the cerebral peduncles of the midbrain and the pyramids of the medulla) and down to the spinal cord.
