Crossword clues for brainstem
brainstem
Wiktionary
n. (alternative spelling of brain stem English)
WordNet
n. the part of the brain continuous with the spinal cord and comprising the medulla oblongata and pons and midbrain and parts of the hypothalamus [syn: brain-stem, brain stem]
Wikipedia
In the anatomy of humans and of many other vertebrates, the brainstem (or brain stem) is the posterior part of the brain, adjoining and structurally continuous with the spinal cord. In humans it is usually described as including the medulla oblongata (myelencephalon), pons (part of metencephalon), and midbrain (mesencephalon). Less frequently, parts of the diencephalon are included.
The brainstem provides the main motor and sensory innervation to the face and neck via the cranial nerves. Of the twelve pairs of cranial nerves, ten pairs come from the brainstem. Though small, this is an extremely important part of the brain as the nerve connections of the motor and sensory systems from the main part of the brain to the rest of the body pass through the brainstem. This includes the corticospinal tract (motor), the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway ( fine touch, vibration sensation, and proprioception), and the spinothalamic tract ( pain, temperature, itch, and crude touch).
The brainstem also plays an important role in the regulation of cardiac and respiratory function. It also regulates the central nervous system, and is pivotal in maintaining consciousness and regulating the sleep cycle. The brainstem has many basic functions including heart rate, breathing, sleeping, and eating.
Usage examples of "brainstem".
In human beings, the neo-cortex represents about 85 percent of the brain, which is surely some index of its importance compared to the brainstem, R-complex and limbic system.
That swelling corresponds in higher animals to the hindbrain or brainstem and the midbrain.
He had begun having bizarre and wistful dreams about going out to sleazy dives, getting stoned to the brainstem on endorphin-rock and beer, and picking a fight with the first person to look at him side wise.
Hot thoughts slithered into his mind, wrapping about his brainstem like serpents.
He can feel the icy, invisible skeletal fingers scrabbling at his brainstem again, the queasiness expanding in his gut, the conviction that a web of some constricting fabric is being woven around his heart.
One popped a lung like a balloon, and the other pounded his right cheekbone back out through his brainstem, spraying blood and gray pulp against the wall.
Johnny stood before him, a fine blue tracing of nerves glowing dimly through his skin, running up into the brainstem, toward the bright, almost white glow that permeated his skull.
At the risk of bowdlerizing the piece, I'll just mention that it's about this guy whose higher thought processes become involved in a conflict of interest with his brainstem.
He only hoped that the bugs took longer to get dug in than the strikers did to cover the brainstems.
Even after that, the Command Line continued to exist as an underlying stratum--a sort of brainstem reflex--of many modern computer systems all through the heyday of Graphical User Interfaces, or GUIs as I will call them from now on.
That is why the brainstem is surrounded by the R-complex, then the limbic system and finally the cerebral cortex.
Some strains stay in the peripheral nervous system, but other strains head like a bullet for the central nervous system and take up permanent residence in the cells of the brain-coiling around the brainstem like a serpent around a tree.
Some strains stay in the peripheral nervous system, but other strains head like a bullet for the central nervous system and take up permanent residence in the cells of the brain -- coiling around the brainstem like a serpent around a tree.
And if the sensory overload sent her into fugue, he coaxed her back with tweaks at the core of the brainstem to restore full-alert wakefulness when it was time for the next refinement to be demonstrated.