The Anterior trigeminothalamic tract (or ventral trigeminothalamic tract) serves as pain

Pain

Pain is an unpleasant sensation often caused by intense or damaging stimuli such as stubbing a toe, burning a finger, putting iodine on a cut, and bumping the "funny bone."...

, temperature

Temperature

Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...

, and crude touch pathway from the face, head and neck. It receives input from trigeminal nerve

Trigeminal nerve

The trigeminal nerve contains both sensory and motor fibres. It is responsible for sensation in the face and certain motor functions such as biting, chewing, and swallowing. Sensory information from the face and body is processed by parallel pathways in the central nervous system...

, facial nerve

Facial nerve

The facial nerve is the seventh of twelve paired cranial nerves. It emerges from the brainstem between the pons and the medulla, and controls the muscles of facial expression, and functions in the conveyance of taste sensations from the anterior two-thirds of the tongue and oral cavity...

, glossopharyngeal nerve

Glossopharyngeal nerve

The glossopharyngeal nerve is the ninth of twelve pairs of cranial nerves . It exits the brainstem out from the sides of the upper medulla, just rostral to the vagus nerve...

 and vagus nerve

Vagus nerve

The vagus nerve , also called pneumogastric nerve or cranial nerve X, is the tenth of twelve paired cranial nerves...

. After entering the pons the central projections of the first order neurons descend to the medulla, forming the spinal trigeminal tract and synapse in the spinal trigeminal complex. Axons of the second order neurons cross the midline and terminate in the ventral posterior medial thalamus

Thalamus

The thalamus is a midline paired symmetrical structure within the brains of vertebrates, including humans. It is situated between the cerebral cortex and midbrain, both in terms of location and neurological connections...

 (as opposed to the ventral posterior lateral thalamus as in the dorsal column/medial leminscus and spinothalamic tract pathway) to mediate conscious sensation of pain and temperature from the face, head and neck. The third order neuron in the thalamus then connects to the sensory cortex

Sensory cortex

The sensory cortex can refer informally to the primary somatosensory cortex, or it can be used as an umbrella term for the primary and secondary cortices of the different senses : the visual cortex on the occipital lobes, the auditory cortex on the temporal lobes, the primary olfactory cortex on...

 of the postcentral gyrus

Postcentral gyrus

The lateral postcentral gyrus is a prominent structure in the parietal lobe of the human brain and an important landmark. It is the location of primary somatosensory cortex, the main sensory receptive area for the sense of touch...

. The affective/motivational information is mediated by connections to reticular formation, midbrain, and the midline nuclei of the thalamus

Thalamus

The thalamus is a midline paired symmetrical structure within the brains of vertebrates, including humans. It is situated between the cerebral cortex and midbrain, both in terms of location and neurological connections...

. The midline nuclei third order neurons then synapse to the cingulate and insular

Insular

Insular may also refer to:*Adjective describing an island.*Insular, the term used for Criollo people in the Philippines during the Spanish colonial period.*Insular area of the United States....

cortex. http://www2.uic.edu/stud_orgs/prof/medclass2010/Neuroanat_week_3.doc.

External links

• http://isc.temple.edu/neuroanatomy/lab/atlas/hpv/
• http://isc.temple.edu/neuroanatomy/lab/atlas/ocn/