name	corticospinal_tract
namespace	http://cytomer.bioinf.med.uni-goettingen.de#
parent	 part_of_spinal_cord 
parent	 neural_pathway 
comment [en]	The corticospinal or pyramidal tract is a collection of axons that travel between the cerebral cortex of the brain and the spinal cord.

The corticospinal tract mostly contains motor axons. It actually consists of two separate tracts in the spinal cord: the lateral corticospinal tract and the anterior corticospinal tract. An understanding of these tracts leads to an understanding of why for the most part, one side of the body is controlled by the opposite side of the brain.

Also the corticobulbar tract is considered to be a pyramidal tract. The corticobulbar tract carries signals that control motor neurons located in cranial nerve brain nuclei rather than motor neurons located in the spinal cord.
The neurons of the pyramidal tracts are pyramidal neurons, but that is not how the pyramidal tract got its name, as most of the pyramidal neurons send their axons elsewhere. Instead, it got its name from the shape of the corticospinal axon tracts: when the pyramidal tract passes the medulla, it forms a dense bundle of nerve fibres that is shaped somewhat like a pyramid.
organNo []	25413
ACC []	cy0037275
annotationRemark []	dka
label [de]	Pyramidenbahn des Seitenstrangs
label [en]	corticospinal tract
comment [de]	Die Pyramidenbahn (Tractus corticospinalis). Sie ist beidseits an der Unterseite der Medulla oblongata (Myelencephalon) als seichter Längswulst (Pyramis, Pyramide) sichtbar. In der Pyramidenkreuzung , am Übergang zwischen Nachhirn und Rückenmark, kreuzen 70 bis 90 Prozent der Neuriten als Tractus corticospinalis lateralis auf die jeweils andere Seite (kontralateral), die restlichen laufen als Tractus corticospinalis anterior paramedian im Vorderstrang des Rückenmarks und kreuzen segmental ins Vorderhorn der kontralateralen Seite des Rückenmarks. Einige Bahnen kreuzen überhaupt nicht, sondern verbleiben ipsilateral.
nameEnglishSynonym []	pyramidal tract
speciesNo []	86
label [med]	Tractus corticospinalis
isPartOf	white_matter
hasCell	astrocyte
hasOriginIn	cerebral_cortex
isPartOf	lateral_funiculus_of_spinal_cord
hasCell	http://cytomer.bioinf.med.uni-goettingen.de/cell#glioblast
hasCell	http://cytomer.bioinf.med.uni-goettingen.de/cell#glial_cell_of_central_nervous_system