Trapezoid body

{{short description|Part of the auditory pathway}}

{{Infobox brain

| Name = Trapezoid body

| Latin = corpus trapezoideum

| Image = Gray760.png

| Caption = Terminal nuclei of the cochlear nerve, with their upper connections. (Schematic.) The vestibular nerve with its terminal nuclei and their efferent fibers have been suppressed. On the other hand, in order not to obscure the trapezoid body, the efferent fibers of the terminal nuclei on the right side have been resected in a considerable portion of their extent. The trapezoid body, therefore, shows only one-half of its fibers, viz., those that come from the left. 1. Vestibular nerve, divided at its entrance into the medulla oblongata. 2. Cochlear nerve. 3. Accessory nucleus of acoustic nerve. 4. Tuberculum acusticum. 5. Efferent fibers of accessory nucleus. 6. Efferent fibers of tuberculum acusticum, forming the striae medullares, with 6’, their direct bundle going to the superior olivary nucleus of the same side; 6’’, their decussating bundles going to the superior olivary nucleus of the opposite side. 7. Superior olivary nucleus. 8. Trapezoid body. 9. Trapezoid nucleus. 10. Lateral lemniscus. 11. Raphé. 12. Pyramidal tracts. 13. Fourth ventricle. 14. Inferior peduncle.

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The trapezoid body or ventral acoustic stria is a structure in the pontine tegmentum formed by the crossing-over (decussation) of a portion of the efferent second-order fibers of the ventral cochlear nucleus (anterior cochlear nucleus). After decussating, some of these fibres proceed to ascend in the contralateral lateral lemniscus to reach and terminate in the dorsal nucleus of lateral lemniscus, and inferior colliculus.{{Cite book |last=Patestas |first=Maria A. |title=A Textbook of Neuroanatomy |last2=Gartner |first2=Leslie P. |date= |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2016 |isbn=978-1-118-67746-9 |edition=2nd |location=Hoboken, New Jersey}}{{Rp|page=383}}

The trapezoid body is part of the auditory pathway. It is one of three distinct decussating second-order efferent fiber pathways of the cochlear nuclei (the other two being the dorsal acoustic striae, and intermediate acoustic striae).{{Rp|page=383}} Not all efferents of the cochlear nuclei decussate though; the partial decussation of the cochear nuclei afferents is thought to be functionally important for sound localization.{{Cite book |last=Mendoza |first=John E. |title=Encyclopedia of Clinical Neuropsychology |date=2011 |publisher=Springer New York |isbn=978-0-387-79947-6 |editor1=Jeffrey S. Kreutzer |pages=3504 |chapter=Trapezoid Body |doi=10.1007/978-0-387-79948-3_807 |editor2=John DeLuca |editor3=Bruce Caplan}}