Question

The gray matter in the spinal cord is located in the ____________ , and its shape resembles a letter H, or a butterfly. The cell bodies of somatic motor neurons are primarily housed in the ____________ horns, which innervate skeletal muscle.

Answer 1

Answer:

The gray matter in the spinal cord is located in the grey column , and its shape resembles a letter H, or a butterfly. The cell bodies of somatic motor neurons are primarily housed in the ventral or anterior horns, which innervate skeletal muscle.

Explanation:

The grey matter is a component of the central nervous system that contains neuronal and glial cells and it can be found in the brain, brainstem and spinal cord, in this last one, is found in the grey column, a mass of grey matter shaped in H form.

In this column the grey matter is divided into four columns (as you can see in the image I added):

• The dorsal or posterior horn: contains somatosensorial neurons
• The ventral or anterior horn: contains somatic efferent motor neurons (they exit the spinal cord to innervate skeletal muscle)
• The intermediate column: contains neurons to innervate visceral organs
• The lateral horn: same as the intermediate column

I hope you find this information useful and interesting! Good luck!