FIG 3.

Glossopharyngeal nerve, associated nuclei, and major branches. Coronal graphic (A) shows the glossopharyngeal nerves (black solid arrows, CN IX) exiting the skull base at the jugular foramina. CN IX is a mixed nerve, including afferent sensory fibers to the spinal nucleus of CN V (purple shading, black arrowhead), afferent special sensory fibers (taste from posterior two-thirds of the tongue) to the solitary tract nucleus (blue shading, white solid arrow), efferent motor fibers from the nucleus ambiguus (green shading, white dashed straight arrow), and efferent parasympathetic fibers from the inferior salivatory nucleus (lavender shading, black dashed curved arrow). Axial graphic (B) shows CN IX (black solid arrows) departing the medulla laterally at the postolivary sulcus and exiting the skull base at the pars nervosa segment of the jugular foramina. Note the brain stem nuclei of CN IX, including the spinal nucleus of CN V (purple shading, black arrowheads), solitary tract nucleus (blue shading, white solid arrows), inferior salivatory nucleus (pink shading, black dashed curved arrows), and nucleus ambiguus (green shading, white dashed straight arrows). Sagittal graphic (C) demonstrates the complex extracranial innervation provided by CN IX, including motor innervation of the stylopharyngeus muscle (black solid arrow, magnified inset), sensory innervation from the middle ear and parasympathetic innervation to the parotid gland via the tympanic (Jacobson) nerve (white solid arrow, magnified inset), sensory and taste from the posterior two-thirds of the tongue (black arrowhead), sensory from the soft palate and oropharynx (white arrowhead), and viscerosensory to the carotid sinus and body (white dashed straight arrow). Graphics are reproduced with permission from Imaging Anatomy: Brain and Spine. Copyright Elsevier.