Anterior horn (spinal cord)

The anterior horn of the spinal cord (or anterior cornu, or anterior column, or ventral horn) is the ventral (front) grey matter section of the spinal cord.

The anterior horn contains motor neurons that affect the axial muscles while the posterior horn receives information regarding touch and sensation.

The anterior horn is where the cell bodies of alpha motorneurons are located.

Pathology

It is these cells that are affected in the so-called "Anterior Horn Diseases", namely Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Spinal muscular atrophy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, Poliomyelitis and Progressive muscular atrophy. These motorneurons are also affected in Spinal and Bulbar Muscular Atrophy (Kennedy disease).

Anatomical details

The Anterior Column (anterior cornu, anterior horn), directed forward, is broad and of a rounded or quadrangular shape.

Its posterior part is termed the base, and its anterior part the head, but these are not differentiated from each other by any well-defined constriction.

It is separated from the surface of the medulla spinalis by a layer of white substance which is traversed by the bundles of the anterior nerve roots.

In the thoracic region, the postero-lateral part of the anterior column projects lateralward as a triangular field, which is named the lateral column (columna lateralis; lateral cornu).

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