Pharyngeal branch of vagus nerve

Nerve: Pharyngeal branch of vagus nerve
Plan of upper portions of glossopharyngeal, vagus, and accessory nerves. (Pharyngeal visible at center right.)
Latin	ramus pharyngeus nervi vagi
Gray's	subject #205 911
Innervates	pharynx
From	vagus nerve
To	pharyngeal plexus
Dorlands / Elsevier	r_02/12691614

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

Please Take Over This Page and Apply to be Editor-In-Chief for this topic: There can be one or more than one Editor-In-Chief. You may also apply to be an Associate Editor-In-Chief of one of the subtopics below. Please mail us [2] to indicate your interest in serving either as an Editor-In-Chief of the entire topic or as an Associate Editor-In-Chief for a subtopic. Please be sure to attach your CV and or biographical sketch.

The pharyngeal branch of the vagus nerve, the principal motor nerve of the pharynx, arises from the upper part of the ganglion nodosum, and consists principally of filaments from the cranial portion of the accessory nerve.

It passes across the internal carotid artery to the upper border of the Constrictor pharyngis medius, where it divides into numerous filaments, which join with branches from the glossopharyngeal, sympathetic, and external laryngeal to form the pharyngeal plexus.

From the plexus, branches are distributed to the muscles and mucous membrane of the pharynx (except the the stylopharyngeus) and the muscles of the soft palate, except the Tensor veli palatini. A minute filament descends and joins the hypoglossal nerve as it winds around the occipital artery.

See also

• Pharyngeal nerve

External links

• -952827845 at GPnotebook
• Cranial Nerves at Yale 10-7
• Norman/Georgetown cranialnerves (X)

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.