CN IX: Glossopharyngeal Nerve

Question 1

What results from damage to this nerve?

Answer 1

an absence of the gag reflex

Question 2

Main functions

Answer 2

• innervates neck muscles and parotid gland
• conveys somatosensory innervation from the pharynx (feedback that elicits gag reflex), tonsils, the carotid sinus & body, and from the posterior 1/3rd of the tongue.

Question 3

parotid gland

Answer 3

produces saliva and digestive enzymes

Question 4

“carotid sinus and body “

Answer 4

-involved in regulation of blood pressure and blood oxygen

Question 5

The glossopharyngeal shares brainstem nuclei with _______.

Answer 5

• CN X (vagus) and CN XI (accessory).
• In fact, these CN can be mistaken for one another unless you remember their rostrocaudal order (GVA) as they emerge from roughly the same location on the ventrolateral aspects of the medulla.