Olfactory nerve



Nerve: Olfactory nerve
Latin nervus olfactorius
Gray's subject #196
MeSH Olfactory+Nerve

The olfactory nerve, or cranial nerve I, is the first of twelve cranial nerves. The specialized sieve-like structure.

olfactory bulb. Olfactory ensheathing glia wrap bundles of these axons and are thought to facilitate their passage into the central nervous system.

The sense of olfactory system and the rest of the central nervous system via the olfactory tract.

The olfactory nerve is the shortest of all the twelve cranial nerves and only one of two cranial nerves (the other being the optic nerve) that do not join with the brainstem.

Testing the Olfactory nerve

To test the function of the olfactory nerve, doctors block one of the patient's nostrils and place a pungent odor (such as damp coffee essence) under the open nostril. The test to see if the patient can detect the smell is then repeated on the other nostril.

Additional images

See also

v • d • e
Nerves of head and neck: the cranial nerves
I-IVolfactory • optic • oculomotor (superior branch, inferior branch) • trochlear
V: trigeminaltrigeminal ganglion • ophthalmic • maxillary • mandibular
VI: abducensno significant branches
VII: facialnervus intermedius • geniculate • inside facial canal (greater petrosal, nerve to the stapedius, chorda tympani) • at exit from stylomastoid foramen (posterior auricular, digastric • stylohyoid) • on face (temporal, zygomatic, buccal, mandibular, cervical)
VIII: vestibulocochlearcochlear (striae medullares, lateral lemniscus) • vestibular (Scarpa's ganglion)
IX: glossopharyngealnucleus ambiguus • ganglia (superior, petrous) • tympanic (tympanic plexus, lesser petrosal) • carotid sinus • pharyngeal branches • pharyngeal plexus
X: vagusganglia (jugular, nodose) • in the jugular fossa (meningeal branch, auricular branch) • in the neck (pharyngeal branch, superior laryngeal ext and int, recurrent laryngeal, superior cervical cardiac) • in the thorax (inferior cardiac, pulmonary branches, anterior vagal trunk, posterior vagal trunk) • in the abdomen (celiac branches - renal branches - hepatic branches of anterior vagal trunk - anterior gastric branches of anterior vagal trunk - posterior gastric branches of posterior vagal trunk)
XI-XIIaccessory • hypoglossal
v • d • e
Sensory system: Mitral cells • Piriform cortex
Rhinencephalon • Olfactory tract • Olfactory trigone
 
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