Cranial Nerve Reference

by Karen Hoffmann, Class ’91
© 1992, 1998
Thomas F. Fletcher, DVM, Ph.D
College of Veterinary Medicine
University of Minnesota
St.Paul, MN 55108

Contents:
         Purpose
         Features
         Student Evaluations
         Platform requirements
         Download instructions

Purpose:

     Cranial Nerve Reference 2.5 is independent study courseware intended to help veterinary students review information about cranial nerves, using the dog as a model for anatomical features and graphic illustrations. The courseware was designed for first-year veterinary students studying Gross Anatomy. It is a HyperCard stand-alone appication (Mac platform).

Features:
      Cranial Nerve Reference provides categorical information about cranial nerves as a group and about each individual cranial nerve. Categorical look-up buttons may be clicked to show anatomy, functions, fiber types, cranial cavity exit foramina, and neuron cell body locations of cranial nerve nuclei:

• ANATOMY -- initially illustrates cranial nerve roots attached to the brain. You can mouse-click on an illustrated root to see it identified by name. You may click beside the name of a nerve to see an illustration of the nerve's peripheral branches and the structures it innervates. Additional buttons may be clicked to reveal functions, fiber types, exit foramina and the cell body locations of brain stem nuclei associated with particular nerves.
  
  
• FUNCTIONS -- presents motor & sensory functions served collectively by cranial nerves. Clicking on a particular function reveals the individual cranial nerve(s) that subserves that function.
  
  
• FIBER TYPE -- presents an explanation of the terms afferent/efferent, somatic/visceral, and special/general, and lists pertinent nerves for each fiber type that you construct by clicking terms.
  
  
• FORAMINA -- initially illustrates foramina through which cranial nerves exit the cranial cavity. Names of nerves and associated foramina are revealed by clicking on the illustration. Clicking beside the name of a nerve displays additional views of its exit foramen.
  
  
• NEURON CELL BODIES (NUCLEI) -- initially illustrates the locations of eight transverse sections through the brainstem. Clicking beside the name of a nerve displays a transverse section that features cell bodies of origin or destination for the particular cranial nerve.

Student Evaluations:

Platform Requirements:

      Cranial Nerve Reference 2.5 is a HyperCard stand-alone application. Minimal requirements are a Macintosh computer with a 9-in. black & white screen and 2 MB of RAM available to run the application. Disc size is 2.4 MB.

Download Instructions:

      A Macintosh computer is required to run Cranial Neve Reference 2.5. When you click "Download Now" (below), a 1.2 MB compressed, self-extracting, binary file "Cranial Neve Reference 2.5.sea" will be transmitted to the location on your hard disk where your browser downloads files. Double-click the downloaded file icon to extract a 2.4 MB file "Cranial Neve Reference 2.5" (your browser may extract this file automatically). Double-click "Cranial Neve Reference 2.5" to view the courseware. (You can trash "Cranial Neve Reference 2.5.sea" to conserve disk space.) Download Now