Fasciculus gracilis

The fasciculus gracilis (tract of Goll) is a bundle of nerve fibres in the spinal cord that carries information about fine touch from the lower part of the body.

The fasciculus gracilis is wedge-shaped on transverse section, and lies next the posterior median septum, its base being at the surface of the medulla spinalis, and its apex directed toward the posterior gray commissure.

It increases in size from below upward, and consists of long thin fibers which are derived from the posterior nerve roots, and ascend as far as the medulla oblongata, where they end in the nucleus gracilis. It brings in sensory impulses from lower body.

The tract of Goll was named after Swiss neuroanatomist Friedrich Goll (1829–1903).