Editing Neural pathway (section)

{{Short description|Connection formed between neurons that allows neurotransmission}}
{{For|circuits of neurons|neural circuit}}
{{Distinguish|Neurotransmitter pathways}}

[[File:Neural_pathway_diagram.svg|thumb|A neural pathway connects one part of the [[nervous system]] to another using bundles of [[axon]]s called tracts. The [[optic tract]] that extends from the [[optic nerve]] is an example of a neural pathway because it connects the eye to the brain; additional pathways within the brain connect to the [[visual cortex]].]]

In [[neuroanatomy]], a '''neural pathway''' is the connection formed by [[axon]]s that project from [[neuron]]s to make [[synapse]]s onto neurons in another location, to enable [[neurotransmission]] (the sending of a signal from one region of the [[nervous system]] to another). Neurons are connected by a single axon, or by a bundle of axons known as a [[nerve tract]], or [[nerve fascicle|fasciculus]].<ref>{{Cite book|title = Clinically Oriented Anatomy|last1 = Moore|first1 = Keith|last2 = Dalley|first2 = Arthur|publisher = LWW|year = 2005|isbn = 0-7817-3639-0|edition = 5th|page = [https://archive.org/details/clinicallyorient00moor_1/page/47 47]|quote = A bundle of nerve fibers (axons) connecting neighboring or distant nuclei of the CNS is a tract.|url-access = registration|url = https://archive.org/details/clinicallyorient00moor_1/page/47}}</ref> Shorter neural pathways are found within [[grey matter]] in the [[brain]], whereas longer projections, made up of [[myelin]]ated axons, constitute [[white matter]].

In the [[hippocampus]], there are neural pathways involved in its circuitry including the [[perforant path]]way,  that provides a connectional route from the [[entorhinal cortex]]<ref name="pmid10985279">{{cite journal |doi=10.1002/1098-1063(2000)10:4<398::AID-HIPO6>3.0.CO;2-K|pmid=10985279|title=Cortico-hippocampal communication by way of parallel parahippocampal-subicular pathways|journal=Hippocampus|volume=10|issue=4|pages=398–410|year=2000|last1=Witter|first1=Menno P.|last2=Naber|first2=Pieterke A.|last3=Van Haeften|first3=Theo|last4=Machielsen|first4=Willem C.M.|last5=Rombouts|first5=Serge A.R.B.|last6=Barkhof|first6=Frederik|last7=Scheltens|first7=Philip|last8=Lopes Da Silva|first8=Fernando H.|s2cid=25432455 }}</ref> to all fields of the [[hippocampal formation]], including the [[dentate gyrus]], all [[hippocampus proper|CA fields]] (including CA1),<ref name="pmid18313770">{{cite journal |doi=10.1016/j.bbr.2008.01.002|pmid=18313770|title=Disruption of the direct perforant path input to the CA1 subregion of the dorsal hippocampus interferes with spatial working memory and novelty detection|journal=Behavioural Brain Research|volume=189|issue=2|pages=273–83|year=2008|last1=Vago|first1=David R.|last2=Kesner|first2=Raymond P.|pmc=2421012}}</ref> and the [[subiculum]].

Descending motor pathways of the [[pyramidal tracts]] travel from the [[cerebral cortex]] to the [[brainstem]] or lower [[spinal cord]].<ref name="Sinauer">{{cite book|last1=Purves|first1=Dale|title=Neuroscience|date=2011|publisher=Sinauer|location=Sunderland, Mass.|isbn=9780878936953|pages=375–378|edition=5.}}</ref><ref name="Purves">{{cite book|last1=Purves|first1=Dale|last2=Augustine|first2=George J.|last3=Fitzpatrick|first3=David|last4=Katz|first4=Lawrence C.|last5=LaMantia|first5=Anthony-Samuel|last6=McNamara|first6=James O.|last7=Williams|first7=S. Mark|title=Damage to Descending Motor Pathways: The Upper Motor Neuron Syndrome|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK10898/|language=en|date=1 January 2001|publisher=Sinauer Associates }}</ref> Ascending [[sensory neuron|sensory]] tracts in the [[dorsal column–medial lemniscus pathway]] (DCML) carry information from the periphery to the cortex of the brain.