(nerve, vagus) A cranial nerve arising from the medulla oblongata, which provides efferent parasympathetic innervation to tissues and viscera in the neck, thorax and abdomen; it also includes somatic and visceral afferent nerve fibers.

Tenth cranial nerve; a mixed nerve which contains somatic and visceral afferents, parasympathetic efferents, and efferents to striated muscle.

The 10th cranial nerve. The vagus is a mixed nerve which contains somatic afferents (from skin in back of the ear and the external auditory meatus), visceral afferents (from the pharynx, larynx, thorax, and abdomen), parasympathetic efferents (to the thorax and abdomen), and efferents to striated muscle (of the larynx and pharynx).

The tenth cranial nerve. It is the longest cranial nerve. It originates in the medulla and exits the cranium through the jugular foramen. It supplies various muscles, including muscles of the pharynx and soft palate.

The vagus nerve is the longest cranial nerve. It contains motor and sensory fibers and, because it passes through the neck and thorax to the abdomen, has the widest distribution in the body.

Vagus nerve, longest and most complex of the cranial nerves. The vagus nerve runs from the brain through the face and thorax to the abdomen. It is a mixed nerve that contains parasympathetic fibres. The vagus nerve has two sensory ganglia (masses of nerve tissue that transmit sensory impulses): the...