Expert Reviews in Molecular Medicine: http://www.expertreviews.org/
Accession information: Vol. 8; Issue 11; 24 May 2006 Abstract
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Outline of the human motor system

Emily F. Goodall and Karen E. Morrison

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Figure 1. Outline of the human motor system. Upper motor neuron cell bodies are situated in the motor cortex and project axons via the corticospinal tracts to the spinal cord. There they synapse in the anterior horn with lower motor neurons, which project axons via peripheral nerves that then contact muscle fibres at the neuromuscular junction. Lower motor neurons originating in the brain stem that control speech and swallowing (bulbar motor neurons), and lower motor neurons that originate in the spinal cord that control limb and respiratory muscles, may both be affected. Damage to various combinations of upper and lower motor neurons occurs in human amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

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