Posterior commissure
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Brain: Posterior commissure | ||
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Mesal aspect of a brain sectioned in the median sagittal plane. (Posterior commissure labeled at upper right.) | ||
Median sagittal section of brain. The relations of the pia mater are indicated by the red color. (Label for posterior commissure is at center top.) | ||
Latin | commissura posterior | |
Gray's | subject #189 812 | |
NeuroNames | hier-475 | |
Dorlands/Elsevier | c_49/12251723 |
The posterior commissure is a rounded band of white fibers crossing the middle line on the dorsal aspect of the upper end of the cerebral aqueduct. It is important in the bilateral pupillarly light reflex.
Its fibers acquire their medullary sheaths early, but their connections have not been definitely determined. Most of them have their origin in a nucleus, the nucleus of the posterior commissure (nucleus of Darkschewitsch), which lies in the central gray substance of the upper end of the cerebral aqueduct, in front of the nucleus of the oculomotor nerve.
Some are probably derived from the posterior part of the thalamus and from the superior colliculus, while others are believed to be continued downward into the medial longitudinal fasciculus.
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This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.