oculomotor nerve

Also known as nervus oculomotorius, cranial nerve III, CN III

cranial nerve III, for eye movements

Key facts

From: Oculomotor nucleus , Edinger-Westphal nucleus
To: Superior branch , inferior branch
Innervates: Superior rectus , inferior rectus , medial rectus , inferior oblique , levator palpebrae superioris , sphincter pupillae (parasympathetics) , ciliaris muscle (parasympathetics)
Latin: nervus oculomotorius
Mesh: D009802
Ta98: A14.2.01.007

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

9,592 papers

Oculomotor nerve schwannoma: case series and literature review.Survey of ophthalmology · 2022
COVID-19 and isolated oculomotor nerve palsy: Clinical features and outcomes.Clinical neurology and neurosurgery · 2023
Microsurgical Anatomy of the Oculomotor Nerve.Clinical anatomy (New York, N.Y.) · 2017
Oculomotor nerve root split: incidental finding on MRI-case report and literature review.Surgical and radiologic anatomy : SRA · 2022
Not Just Down and Out: Oculomotor Nerve Pathologic Spectrum.Current problems in diagnostic radiology · 2022

via PubMed

~8 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The oculomotor nerve, also known as the third cranial nerve, cranial nerve III, or simply CN III, is a cranial nerve that enters the orbit through the superior orbital fissure and innervates extraocular muscles that enable most movements of the eye and that raise the eyelid. The nerve also contains fibers that innervate the intrinsic eye muscles that enable pupillary constriction and accommodation (ability to focus on near objects as in reading). The oculomotor nerve is derived from the basal plate of the embryonic midbrain. Cranial nerves IV and VI also participate in control of eye movement.

Structure

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “oculomotor nerve” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.