The facial nerve is the seventh paired cranial nerve. It is a mixed nerve. Its conveys the sensation of taste and is motor to all the skeletal muscles derived from the second pharyngeal arch. The nerve is secreto-motor to the lacrimal, submandibular and sublingual salivary glands.
Parts of facial nerve:
The facial nerve consists of two parts: the facial nerve proper and the nervus intermedius. The facial nerve proper is the motor root of the facial nerve consisting of the axons of SVE (branchiomotor) neurons whose cell bodies reside in the facial nucleus. This nucleus contains subnuclei, each supplying specific muscles or groups of muscles. The nervus intermedius is sometimes referred to as the “sensory root,” which is a misnomer since in
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The motor nucleus of facial nerve is situated in lower pontine tegmentum. It is located in the ventrolateral part of the tegmentum of lower pons, dorsal to superior olivary nucleus and ventromedial to spinal trigerminal nucleus. It belongs to the special visceral efferent column. Axons from this nucleus supply skeletal muscle derived from the second pharyngeal arch. This nucleus consists of multiple neuron and have many subdivisions. The fibres first pass in a dorsomedial direction and then loop over the abducent nerve and produce a small round swelling in the floor of the 4th ventricle.
The superior salivary and lacrimatory nuclei of the facial nerve are also present in the lower half of the of pons. These nuclei are small collections of cholinergic nerve cells in dorso-lateral reticular formation. The neuron of these two nuclei seems to be intermingled with each other. They represent the general visceral efferent component of the facial nerve.
The nucleus of tractus solitarius and spinal trigeminal nucleus are the two sensory nuclei associated with facial nerve situated in the