Glossopharyngeal nerve

Nerve: Glossopharyngeal nerve

Plan of upper portions of glossopharyngeal, vagus, and accessory nerves.

Course and distribution of the glossopharyngeal, vagus, and accessory nerves. (Label for glossopharyngeal is at upper right.)
Latin	nervus glossopharyngeus
Gray's	subject #204 906
Innervates	stylopharyngeus
From
To	tympanic nerve
MeSH	A08.800.800.120.290

The glossopharyngeal nerve is the ninth of twelve cranial nerves. It exits the brainstem out from the sides of the upper medulla, just rostral (closer to the nose) to the vagus nerve.

Cranial Nerves
CN 0 - Cranial nerve zero
CN I - Olfactory
CN II - Optic
CN III - Oculomotor
CN IV - Trochlear
CN V - Trigeminal
CN VI - Abducens
CN VII - Facial
CN VIII - Vestibulocochlear
CN IX - Glossopharyngeal
CN X - Vagus
CN XI - Accessory
CN XII - Hypoglossal
This box: view • talk • edit

Functions

There are a number of functions of the glossopharyngeal nerve:

It receives sensory fibres from the posterior one-third of the tongue, the tonsils, the pharynx, the middle ear and the carotid body.
It supplies parasympathetic fibres to the parotid gland via the otic ganglion.
It supplies motor fibres to stylopharyngeus muscle
It contributes to the pharyngeal plexus.

Brainstem connections

The glossopharyngeal nerve, being mostly sensory, does not have a cranial nerve nucleus of its own. Instead it must project into many different structures in the brainstem:

Solitary nucleus: Taste from the posterior one-third of the tongue and information from carotid baroreceptors and carotid body chemoreceptors
Spinal nucleus of the trigeminal nerve: Visceral pain as well as somatic sensory fibers from the skin of the outer ear.
Nucleus ambiguus: The lower motor neurons for the stylopharyngeus muscle.
Inferior salivatory nucleus: Parasympathetic input to the parotid and mucous glands.

Path

From the medulla oblongata, the glossopharyngeal nerve passes laterally across the flocculus, and leaves the skull through the central part of the jugular foramen, in a separate sheath of the dura mater, lateral to and in front of the vagus and accessory nerves.

In its passage through the jugular foramen, it grooves the lower border of the petrous part of the temporal bone; and, at its exit from the skull, passes forward between the internal jugular vein and internal carotid artery; it descends in front of the latter vessel, and beneath the styloid process and the muscles connected with it, to the lower border of the stylopharyngeus.

It then curves forward, forming an arch on the side of the neck and lying upon the stylopharyngeus and middle pharyngeal constrictor muscle.

From there it passes under cover of the hyoglossus muscle, and is finally distributed to the palatine tonsil, the mucous membrane of the fauces and base of the tongue, and the mucous glands of the mouth.