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Q16 - Spinal Cord Injury and Sensory Pathways

Theoretical 1 Real exam question - full text reproduced under IBO's CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license
Nervous System Physiology

In figure a, the pain and temperature sensory pathway is depicted. The first-order neuron enters the spinal cord and forms a synapse with the second-order neuron, which its axon ends in the thalamus. The third-order neuron transmits the information to the brain cortex. Figure b shows the vibration and proprioception (joint position) sensory pathway. The axon terminals of the first-order neurons are located in the brain stem and form synapses with second-order neuron, which crosses the midline and their axons end in the thalamus. finally, the sensory information is conducted to the cortex via the third-order neurons. Following a spinal injury, the right ventral and left dorsal sides of the white matter in thoracolumbar spinal cord are damaged.

Figure 1. Figure 1.

Using the information and data, determine which of the statements are true or which are false.

A. The patient has impaired temperature sensation in right hand.
B. The patient has impaired vibration sensation in left leg.
C. The patient has impaired joint position sensation in left leg and temperature sensation in right leg.
D. The patient has impaired pain sensation in left leg.
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Question reproduced from IBO 2018, Theoretical Paper 1, licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 - attributed to the International Biology Olympiad. Open the full exam PDF · Community solutions (unofficial)