FIG 4.

Vagus nerve, associated nuclei, and major branches. Coronal graphic (A) shows the vagus nerves (black solid arrows, CN X) exiting the skull base at the jugular foramina. CN X 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 epiglottis and valleculae) to the solitary tract nucleus (blue shading, white solid arrow), efferent motor fibers from the nucleus ambiguus (green shading, white dashed straight arrow), and both efferent parasympathetic fibers from and afferent viscerosensory fibers to the dorsal vagal nucleus (rose shading, black dashed curved arrow). Axial graphic (B) shows CN X (black solid arrows) departing the medulla laterally at the postolivary sulcus and exiting the skull base at the pars vascularis segment of the jugular foramina. Note the brain stem nuclei of CN X, including the spinal nucleus of CN V (purple shading, black arrowheads), solitary tract nucleus (blue shading, white solid arrows), dorsal vagal nuclei (rose 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 X, including motor innervation of the soft palate and constrictors via the pharyngeal plexus (black solid arrow); motor innervation of the muscles of the larynx (except cricothyroid) via the recurrent laryngeal nerve (black arrowhead); special sensory (taste) from the epiglottis and valleculae (white solid arrow); afferent sensory from the external ear and skull base; parasympathetic innervation of the cervical, thoracic, and abdominal viscera; and viscerosensory afferents (white arrowhead) from the larynx, visceral space, chest, and abdomen. Graphics are reproduced with permission from Imaging Anatomy: Brain and Spine. Copyright Elsevier.