Development of the Human Spinal Cord

This work begins with a review of our understanding of the organization of the spinal cord. Following a detailed experiment-based account of spinal cord development in the rat, the development of the human spinal cord is described in separate chapters during the embryonic period, the foetal period, and infancy. Special attention is paid to neurogenesis in the spinal cord, the maturation of its different classes of its neurons, and the growth and myelination of its ascending and descending fiber tracts. The volume ends with a correlation of motor development with different stages in the morphological development of the human spinal chord from the embryonic period to infancy.