Question

Weight of Spinal Cord is
A. 100gm
B. 1400gm
C. 150gm
D. 35gm

Answer 1

Hint: The spinal cord extends throughout the length of the vertebral column. It is very lightweight in comparison to the brain.

Complete answer:
The spinal cord has a length of 42 to 45 cm, the diameter of the spinal cord is about 2cm. The weight of the spinal cord is approximately 35 gm.

Additional Information:
- The spinal cord passes through the vertebral canal which is also known as the spinal canal.
- The spinal cord is swollen around the cervical and lumbar vertebrae.
- The spinal cord is covered by three meninges similar to the brain. Dura mater, arachnoid mater, and the pia mater.
- The outer portion of the spinal is composed of white matter and the inner portion is composed of gray matter.
- On gray matter projects outside on the dorsolateral and ventrolateral surface of the spinal cord forming a butterfly-like structure which is the one pair of dorsal and ventral horns.
- The root of the dorsal and ventral horn consists of ganglia known as dorsal and ventral root ganglia.
- The intervertebral foramen marks the site of a combination of both the dorsal and ventral root ganglia.
- Pseudounipolar sensory neurons are found in the dorsal root ganglia.
- Sensory nerve fibers from ganglia form synapses with the ventral root neurons.
- The ventral root mostly consists of neurons.

So, the correct answer is, ‘the weight of spinal cord is 35 gm’.

Note: It should be remembered that the average weight of vertebra in the cervical segment was 6-7 gm, in the thoracic 8-9 gm, in the lumbar, 17-18 gm, and the sacrum 10-11 gm and the weight of spinal cord which is only content of the vertebral column is around 35 gm only in human beings.