Located of the brainstem; controls breathing and heartbeat; connects the medulla to the two sides of the cerebellum to help coordinate and integrate movement on each side of side of the body; involved in sleep and dreaming.
Serious symptoms related to the bite of a brown recluse spider include low platelet count, destruction of the red blood cells, blot clots in capillaries, inability to form clots, acute renal failure or kidney damage, coma, and death.
The brown recluse bears a potentially deadly hemotoxic venom. Most bites are minor with no necrosis. However, a small number of brown recluse bites do produce severe dermonecrotic lesions (i.e. necrosis); an even smaller number produce severe cutaneous (skin) or viscerocutaneous (systemic) symptoms.