facial nerve
facial nerve
facial nerve
fa′cial nerve`
n.
| Noun | 1. |  facial nerve - cranial nerve that supplies facial muscles |
n.
Facial Nerve
facial nerve
[′fā·shəl ‚nərv]Facial Nerve
(nervus facialis), the seventh pair of cranial nerves; a mixed nerve containing motor and sensory nerve fibers.
The nuclei of the facial nerve lie in the pons varolii. The conductors connected to these nuclei form the trunk of the facial nerve, which passes through the internal auditory meatus and the pyramid of the temporal bone to emerge from the cranial cavity through the stylomastoid foramen. The nerve divides into its terminal branches in the parotid gland.
The facial nerve’s motor conductors innervate the mimetic musculature, the stylohyoid muscle, the posterior venter of the digastric muscle, and the subcutaneous muscle of the neck. Its autonomic fibers innervate the salivary glands, the lacrimal glands, and the glands of the mucosae of the nasal cavity, palate, and upper pharynx. Its sensory fibers provide the gustatory innervation of the anterior two-thirds of the tongue. The autonomic and sensory fibers of the facial nerve in the vicinity of the brain stem form the nervus intermedius, the largest branch of which is called the chorda tympani. The most frequent pathology of the facial nerve is paralysis.
facial nerve
facial
[fa´shal]facial nerve
facial nerve
Sensory
Taste fibers from the anterior two thirds of the tongue and the soft palate follow the chorda tympani to their neuronal cell bodies in the geniculate ganglion; the axons of these neurons follow the nervus intermedius (the sensory root of the facial nerve) into the pons where they synapse in the nucleus of the tractus solitarius (the gustatory nucleus).
Motor
Somatic motor axons from the motor nucleus of the facial nerve in the pons emerge as the motor root of the facial nerve and enter the bone of the skull through the internal auditory meatus. The motor axons follow the facial canal inside the temporal bone and exit the skull through the stylomastoid foramen. From there, the axons innervate all the muscles of facial expression. Preganglionic parasympathetic axons from the superior salivatory nucleus take the nervus intermedius to the region of the geniculate ganglion inside the facial canal. From there, some of the axons join the chorda tympani and later reach the submandibular ganglion by following the lingual nerve. Other preganglionic parasympathetic axons follow the major superficial petrosal nerve and the vidian nerve to reach the pterygopalatine ganglion.
facial nerve
One of the 7th of the 12 pairs of CRANIAL NERVES. Each facial nerve supplies the muscles of the face on its own side. Loss of function in a facial nerve causes partial or total paralysis of one side of the face. This is called BELL'S PALSY.facial nerve
the 7th cranial nerve, a dorsal root that in mammals is mainly motor in function, supplying facial muscles, the salivary glands and the front-of-tongue taste buds.facial nerve
- noun
Synonyms for facial nerve
noun cranial nerve that supplies facial muscles
Synonyms
- facial
- nervus facialis
- seventh cranial nerve
Related Words
- cranial nerve
- face
- human face
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