THE CILIOSPINAL REFLEX IN INJURIES OF THE CERVICAL SPINAL CORD IN MAN

Abstract

IN PURSUING some of the defects of autonomic regulation in injuries of the cervical spinal cord, attention was directed to the pupillodilation reflex elicited by painful stimuli (ciliospinal reflex) (Claude Bernard) to the cheek or neck. Ranson¹ (1947) states that this pupillary skin reflex can be induced by any strong sensory stimulation. The pathway is by way of fibers of these sensory nerves and their central connections in the brain stem and spinal cord and then by way of the sympathetic outflow from the intermediolateral column to the dilators of the iris. However, this mode of transmission is now controversial since in the cat this reflex has been shown to be due to inhibition of tonic activity of the Edinger Westphal nucleus and is not impaired in section of the cervical sympathetic trunk. But in the monkey and probably in man reflex dilation of the pupil may be evoked