Cranial Nerve Nuclei
Choose . . .
- Cranial Nerves: Innervation Summary Table
- Cranial Nerves: Root Attachment Sites
- Cranial Nerve Nuclei: Neuron Column Fiber-Types
- Cranial Nerve Nuclei: Shown Within Brain Sections
- Cranial Nerve Nuclei: Innervation, Nerve & Fiber-Type
Quizzes . . .
- Cranial Nerves: Innervation Quiz Sets
- Cranial Nerve Nuclei: Innervation Quiz Sets
Also . . .
- Exit to Cranial Nerves - Animated Quizzes
- Exit to Cranial Nerve Nuclei - Animated Quizzes
Cranial nerves innervate mainly head structures. The nerves are composed of axons traveling to or from brainstem nuclei (or to olfactory bulbs). Thus axons within cranial nerves are afferent or efferent relative to brainstem nuclei. Cranial nerve nuclei form interrupted columns of neuron cell bodies within the brainstem. Each nuclear column represents a particular fiber-type. Efferent nuclei contain of cell bodies of efferent neurons, which send axons through one or more cranial nerves to innervate muscles or ultimately glands (efferent nuclei also contain interneurons). Afferent nuclei are composed of interneurons and pathway projection neurons. Each afferent nucleus receives synaptic input from afferent axons that traveled within one or more cranial nerves. Afferent axons possess terminal-branch sensory receptors (or they synapse in sense organs). NOTE: The above web apps relate cranial nerve nuclei and fiber-types with respective cranial nerves and innervation targets.
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