Pyramidal Tracts - Neurons

Neurons

The neurons of the these tracts are referred to as pyramidal tract neurons (PTN), because their axons form part of the pyramidal tracts leading to the spinal cord (or the cranial nerve nuclei with the corticobulbar tract), which in turn are named such because in cross-section they resemble pyramids as they pass through the medulla.

Pyramidal tract neurons, however, are not to be confused with pyramidal neurons: a super-class of neurons, found in many parts of the brain including the cerebral cortex and the hippocampus, whose name derives from the pyramid-like shape of the cell body (soma). In fact, corticospinal neurons are both pyramidal tract neurons (because their axons pass through the medullary pyramids) and pyramidal neurons (because their cell body is shaped like a pyramid).