rubrospinal tract

Function

• the rubrospinal tract does not appear to have direct connections with spinal motor neurons
• impulses carried by the rubrospinal tract indirectly increase flexor motor tone

Course

• somatotopically organized nerve fiber bundle originating in the red nucleus, crossing immediately in the ventral tegmental decussation & descending near the lateral surface of the brainstem & spinal cord just anterior to the corticospinal tract
• it terminates in the intermediate zone of the spinal cord

More general terms

• spinal tract

Component of

• mesencephalon (midbrain)
• pons
• medulla
• spinal cord (spinal marrow)

Components

• rubrobulbar tract