Reticulospinal Tract

The reticular (R), or reticulum, tract or simply the reticulospinal tract is a combination of the gray matter of the spinal cord and the pyramidal body of the medulla oblongata. Although the reticularis itself, which is located in the spinal cord, is a vast area of ​​​​gray matter, has an extension of no more than 2 cm in length and 7 mm in width, only its short path, R tract, connects the medullary part of the spinal cord with the cord in the form of two structures : its posterior column and its lateral column, which are themselves compact, lateral and much narrower structures. Perhaps it is this concentration of both general and cellular elements in this relatively small volume of gray matter that may explain the high level of coordination in both walking and gait movements. Although these units differ in their anatomical and physiological characteristics, together they form a coordination circuit that regulates body movement and orientation, and through a large number of neural connections provides numerous supraspinal mechanisms of inhibition of movements of the central nervous system.