Clifford Anekealmost 7 years ago

The amazing spinal cord.

The Human Spinal Cord! 🙌🏼 Wow! What a great image exposing the spinal cord still intact with the brain and the rest of the human body! 😱 . . The human spinal cord consists of nerves that connect the brain to nerves in the body. It is a superhighway for messages between the brain and the rest of the body. The spinal cord is surrounded for most of its length by the bones (vertebrae) that form the spine. The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the medulla oblongata in the brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column. The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system (CNS). In humans, the spinal cord begins at the occipital bone where it passes through the foramen magnum, and meets and enters the spinal canal at the beginning of the cervical vertebrae. The spinal cord extends down to between the first and second lumbar vertebrae where it ends. The enclosing bony vertebral column protects the relatively shorter spinal cord. It is around 45 cm (18 in) in men and around 43 cm (17 in) long in women. Also, the spinal cord has a varying width, ranging from 13 mm (1⁄2 in) thick in the cervical and lumbar regions to 6.4 mm (1⁄4 in) thick in the thoracic area.