Cranial Nerve X: Vagus Nerve.

Question 1

This nerve is an important branch of ____.

Answer 1

-the most important branch of the parasympathetic nervous system; its widespread area of innervation earns its name (L. wanderer).

Question 2

Two main branches of function

Answer 2

sensory and motor branches

Question 3

Vagus Nerve sensory branches

Answer 3

convey information from the meninges (occipital dura), and the throat

Question 4

Vagus Nerve motor branches

Answer 4

innervates:
- the throat
- the heart(parasympathetic; slows heart rate)
- the lungs
- the stomach
- the secretory cells of many of the viscera.
- smooth muscles of the digestive tract.

Question 5

How is this nerve usually damaged?

Answer 5

generally due to vascular damage within the cranium.

Question 6

What results from damage to this nerve?

Answer 6

vagal damage causes: -racing heart

• forcible contractions of heart.
• slowed respiration
• sense of suffocation
• speech impairments
• loss of sensation to the soft palate and pharynx.