Library · Anatomy
Brainstem
Make it clearer
Below the brain, where it narrows to become the spinal cord, there is a piece with a name of its own: the brainstem, which you may also see written as the brain stem. It is not a free-standing organ but a stretch of tissue, and it is made up of the midbrain and the hindbrain, which in turn comprises the pons and the medulla oblongata.
It comes off the underside of the brain as a cone that tapers until it connects with the spinal cord. And that makes it an unavoidable passageway. The major pathways that run up from the body to the brain and the ones that run back down from the brain to the body all have to cross it, and the cranial nerves attach there too, the nerves that leave the brain directly for the head and neck. It is the bottleneck of that traffic: like the bridge that joins one city to another, it is the point those pathways have to pass through.
In brief
The brainstem consists of the midbrain and the hindbrain, which in turn is made up of the pons and the medulla oblongata.
It emerges from the ventral surface of the forebrain as a tapering cone that connects the brain to the spinal cord.
The major ascending and descending pathways between the spinal cord and the brain run through it, and the cranial nerves attach along it.
It is the narrow stretch where the major pathways travel up and down between the brain and the body.
Sources (1)
- OpenStax, Rice UniversityAnatomy and Physiology 2e, 13.2 The Central Nervous SystemPublished
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