Anatomy-2

An 8-year-old boy is referred to a neurologist
by his family physician because he has developed
progressive slow and clumsy walking.
On examination, the patient has difficulty with
standing and running. While standing, he
adopts a wide-based gait with constant shifting
of position to maintain his balance. Sitting or
standing, he also displays a constant tremor of
the head and trunk. When asked to walk, his
feet strike the ground in an uneven and irregular
rhythm; if he attempts to correct his imbalance,
he displays wild and abrupt movements.
A magnetic resonance image (MRI) reveals
demyelination in the dorsal columns, corticospinal
and spinocerebellar tracts. The child is
diagnosed with Friedreich’s ataxia, an autosomal
recessive neurological disorder resulting
from mutation of a gene locus on chromosome 9.
Second-order neurons of the dorsal (posterior)
spinocerebellar tracts are located in which of
the following?
(A) deep cerebellar nuclei
(B) dorsal root ganglion
(C) nucleus cuneatus
(D) nucleus dorsalis (Clarke’s column)
(E) Rexed’s lamina IX of the spinal cord

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