Search
oculomotor nerve (CN III)
Somatic motor & visceral motor functions.
Cranial nerve autonomic fibers coming out of the CNS are all parasympathetic CN-3, CN-7, CN-9, CN-10.
Efferents:
1) Oculomotor nucleus:
a) somatic motor
b) located in midbrain near aqueduct of Sylvius
c) fibers originating in the oculomotor nucleus innervate:
- levator palpabrae
- superior rectus
- inferior rectus
- medial rectus
- inferior oblique
2) Edinger-Westfall nucleus
a) visceral motor
b) located in midbrain near aqueduct of Sylvius medial to the oculomotor nucleus
c) fibers originating in the Edinger-Westfall nucleus innervate:
- pupillary sphincter
- ciliary muscle
- brown fat [4]
d) relay in ciliary ganglion
Pathology:
- Cranial nerve III palsy:
- isolated cranial nerve III palsy of sudden onset is generally secondary to diabetes mellitus
Course:
- passes between the posterior cerebral & superior cerebellar arteries, then laterally around the posterior clinoid process
Related
cranial nerve III palsy; oculomotor nerve palsy
Edinger-Westphal nucleus
oculomotor nucleus
General
cranial nerve
References
- Clinical Anatomy Made Ridiculously Simple. Stephen
Goldberg, MedMaster Inc, Miami, 1995
- Mayo Internal Medicine Board Review, 1998-99, Prakash UBS (ed)
Lippincott-Raven, Philadelphia, 1998, pg 662
- Grant's Atlas of Anatomy, 10th edition, AMR Agur & MJ Lee (eds),
Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Philadelphia, 1999
- Southwick C
Scientists Find the 'On' Switch for Energy-Burning Brown Fat.
Medscape. Oct 17, 2023
https://www.medscape.com/s/viewarticle/997453
- Mori S, Beyer RS, Bernardes de Souza B et al
Sympathetic innervation of the supraclavicular brown adipose tissue:
A detailed anatomical study.
PLOS One. 2023. Oct 4
PMID: 37792692 PMCID: PMC10550181 Free PMC article
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0290455
Images
images related to oculomotor nerve (CN III)