Table 1.

Distribution of the types of afferents over the four vagus nuclei (adapted from Yuan and Silberstein 2016 (28)).

Vagus nucleus	Type of afferent/efferent	Function
TSN	GSA	Sensory information from posterior external auditory meatus, tympanic membrane, dura in posterior fossa, hypopharynx, larynx and upper esophagus
NST, rostral part	SVA	Taste sensation from the epiglottis and pharynx
NST, caudal part	GVA	Visceral sensory information from hypopharynx, larynx, cardiopulmonary organs, organs of the digestive tract and aortic arch (baroreceptors and chemoreceptors)
DMX	GVE	Parasympathetic innervations of abdominal and thoracic organs
NA, branchiomotor part	SVE	Visceral motor control of various skeletal muscles of the pharynx, larynx and proximal esophagus
NA, external formation	GVE	a) Cardiac ganglia for cardiac inhibition b) Pulmonary ganglia for airway size and secretion regulation

DMX: dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus nerve; GSA: general sensory afferent; GVA: general visceral afferents; GVE: general visceral efferents; NA: nucleus ambiguus; NST: nucleus of the solitary tract; SVA: special visceral afferents; SVE: special visceral efferents; TSN: trigeminal spinal nucleus.