Posterior column 4911573 204544012 2008-04-09T21:22:23Z 209.2.50.108 {{Cleanup|date=July 2007}} The posterior column refers to the area of white matter in the dorsomedial side of the [[spinal cord]]. It is made up of the [[fasciculus gracilis]] and [[fasciculus cuneatus]] and itself is part of the [[dorsal funiculus]]. It is part of an ascending pathway that is important for well-localized fine touch and conscious [[proprioception]] called the [[posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway]]. Joint capsules, tactile and pressure receptors send a signal through the [[dorsal root ganglia]] up through the [[fasciculus gracilis]] for lower body sensory impulses and the [[fasciculus cuneatus]] for upper body impulses. Once the [[fasciculus gracilis]] reaches the nucleus gracilus and the [[fasciculus cuneatus]] reaches the nucleus cuneatus in the lower medulla, they begin to cross over the medulla as the [[internal arcuate fibers]]. When they reach the contralateral side, they become the [[medial lemniscus]], which is the second part of the [[posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway]]. Lesions in this pathway can diminish or completely abolish tacile sensations and movement or position sense below the lesion. ==References== *Clinical Neuroanatomy Made Ridiculously Simple [[Category:Spinal cord]]