Fasciculus gracilis
Fasciculus gracilis is 3a, in blue at upper right.
Diagram of the principal fasciculi of the spinal cord.
Latin	f. gracilis medullae spinalis
Gray's	subject #185 762

The fasciculus gracilis (tract of Goll) is a bundle of axon fibres in the dorsomedial spinal cord that carries information about fine touch, vibrations, and conscious proprioception from the lower part of the body to the brain stem. It is part of the posterior column of the spinal cord, which also contains the fasciculus cuneatus, which carries the same information from the upper part of the body. This tract and its continuation in the brain stem is often referred to as the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway.

The fasciculus gracilis is wedge-shaped on transverse section and lies next the posterior median septum, its base being at the surface of the medulla spinalis, and its apex directed toward the posterior gray commissure.

It increases in size from below upward, and consists of long thin fibers that are derived from the posterior nerve roots, and ascend as far as the medulla oblongata, where they end in the nucleus gracilis. The tract of Goll was named after Swiss neuroanatomist Friedrich Goll (1829–1903).

[edit] Additional images

Decussation of pyramids.	Superficial dissection of brain-stem. Lateral view.	Superior terminations of the posterior fasciculi of the medulla spinalis.	The sensory tract. (problem with this picture. Upper limb synapses with nucleus gracilis..)
Upper part of medulla spinalis and hind- and mid-brains; posterior aspect, exposed in situ.	Human caudal brainstem posterior view description

[edit] See also

• Brown-Sequard Syndrome

[edit] External links

• gracile+fasciculus at eMedicine Dictionary
• Neuroanatomy at UW sc97/text/p1/Pathway.htm

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