Dorsal root ganglia contain sensory neuron cell bodies. Which statement best describes this?

• A. They contain motor neuron cell bodies
• B. They contain sensory neuron cell bodies
• C. They are located in the brain
• D. They connect to the autonomic nervous system

Answer: (B)

Dorsal root ganglia house the cell bodies of sensory neurons whose axons carry information from receptors in the body to the central nervous system. These neurons are typically pseudounipolar, with one process extending to a peripheral receptor and another entering the spinal cord. The ganglia themselves sit along the dorsal root, just outside the spinal cord, in the peripheral nervous system.

Motor neuron cell bodies, by contrast, are located in the ventral horn of the spinal cord (and in cranial nerve motor nuclei in the brainstem), not in the dorsal root ganglia. The brain contains many neuron cell bodies, but dorsal root ganglia are peripheral structures. Autonomic ganglia exist elsewhere in the autonomic pathways, not in these dorsal root ganglia.

So the statement that they contain sensory neuron cell bodies best describes their role and location.