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The terminal nerve, or cranial nerve zero, was discovered by German scientist Gustav Fritsch in 1878.[1] It is a thin nerve that enters the brain just a little bit ahead of all the other nerves and has endings in the nasal cavity.
In fact, due to it being in the nose with the olfactory nerve, it has been overlooked for years. Unlike its neighboring nerve, it is not connected to the olfactory bulb where smells are analyzed.
Instead, the nerve fibers are sent to brain regions that concerning sexual reproduction, the medial and lateral septal nuclei and preoptic areas. This indicates that perhaps it analyzes pheromones.
[edit] References
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Nerves of head and neck: the cranial nerves |
| I-IV: olfactory - optic - oculomotor (superior branch, inferior branch) - trochlear
V: trigeminal: trigeminal ganglion
V1: ophthalmic: lacrimal - frontal (supratrochlear, supraorbital) - nasociliary (long root of ciliary, long ciliary, infratrochlear, posterior ethmoidal, anterior ethmoidal) - ciliary ganglion (short ciliary)
V2: maxillary: middle meningeal - in the pterygopalatine fossa (zygomatic, zygomaticotemporal, zygomaticofacial, sphenopalatine, posterior superior alveolar)
in the infraorbital canal/infraorbital nerve (middle superior alveolar, anterior superior alveolar)
on the face (inferior palpebral, external nasal, superior labial, infraorbital plexus) - pterygopalatine ganglion (deep petrosal, nerve of pterygoid canal)
branches of distribution (greater palatine, lesser palatine, nasopalatine, pharyngeal)
V3: mandibular: meningeal - medial pterygoid - anterior (masseteric, deep temporal, buccal, lateral pterygoid)
posterior (auriculotemporal, lingual, inferior alveolar, mylohyoid, mental) - otic ganglion - submandibular ganglion
VI: abducens
VII: facial: nervus 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: vestibulocochlear: cochlear (striae medullares, lateral lemniscus) - vestibular (Scarpa's ganglion)
IX: glossopharyngeal: nucleus ambiguus - ganglia (superior, petrous) - tympanic (tympanic plexus, lesser petrosal) - carotid sinus - pharyngeal branches - pharyngeal plexus
X: vagus: ganglia (jugular, nodose) - Alderman's nerve - in the neck (pharyngeal branch, superior laryngeal ext and int, recurrent laryngeal)
in the thorax (pulmonary branches, esophageal plexus) - in the abdomen (gastric plexuses, celiac plexus, gastric plexus)
XI: accessory XII: hypoglossal
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