Posterior commissure

The posterior commissure (also known as the epithalamic commissure) is a rounded band of white fibers crossing the middle line on the dorsal aspect of the rostral end of the cerebral aqueduct. It is important in the bilateral pupillary light reflex.

Posterior commissure
Sagittal cross-section of the human brain. The posterior commissure is labelled at center top.
The posterior commissure labelled on a human brain
Details
Part ofHuman brain
Identifiers
Latincommissura posterior
MeSHD066243
NeuroNames484
NeuroLex IDbirnlex_1026
TA98A14.1.08.416
TA25749
FMA62072
Anatomical terms of neuroanatomy

Its fibers acquire their medullary sheaths early, but their connections have not been definitively determined. Most of them have their origin in a nucleus, the nucleus of the posterior commissure (nucleus of Darkschewitsch), which lies in the periaqueductal grey at rostral end of the cerebral aqueduct, in front of the oculomotor nucleus. Some are thought to be derived from the posterior part of the thalamus and from the superior colliculus, whereas others are believed to be continued downward into the medial longitudinal fasciculus.

For the pupillary light reflex, the olivary pretectal nucleus innervates both Edinger-Westphal nuclei. To reach the contralateral Edinger-Westphal nucleus, the axons cross in the posterior commissure.

References

This article incorporates text in the public domain from page 812 of the 20th edition of Gray's Anatomy (1918)

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