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trochlear nerve

File:Trochlear_nerve.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons

EntityQ319584· pop 44· linked from 193 articles

trochlear nerve

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Also known as nervus trochlearis, cranial nerve IV, CN IV

4th cranial nerve

Key facts

Innervates
Superior oblique muscle
Latin
nervus trochlearis
Mesh
D014321
Ta98
A14.2.01.011

via Wikipedia infobox

Research

2,103 papers

via PubMed

~10 min read

Encyclopedic overview

The trochlear nerve (/ˈtrɒklɪər/), (lit. pulley-like nerve) also known as the fourth cranial nerve, cranial nerve IV, or CN IV, is a cranial nerve that innervates a single muscle - the superior oblique muscle of the eye (which operates through the pulley-like trochlea). Unlike most other cranial nerves, the trochlear nerve is exclusively a motor nerve (somatic efferent nerve).

The trochlear nerve is unique among the cranial nerves in several respects:

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

Gallery (8)