Vestibular nerve

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Nerve: Vestibular nerve

Inner ear illustration showing semicircular canal, hair cells, ampulla, cupula, vestibular nerve, & fluid
Latin	n. vestibularis
Gray's	subject #203
From	Vestibulocochlear nerve
MeSH	A08.800.800.120.910.900

Gray's Fig. 761 - Terminal nuclei of the vestibular nerve, with their upper connections. (Schematic.)
1. Cochlear nerve, with its two nuclei.
2. Accessory nucleus.
3. Tuberculum acusticum.
4. Vestibular nerve.
5. Internal nucleus.
6. Nucleus of Deiters.
7. Nucleus of Bechterew.
8. Inferior or descending root of acoustic.
9. Ascending cerebellar fibers.
10. Fibers going to raphé.
11. Fibers taking an oblique course.
12. Lemniscus.
13. Inferior sensory root of trigeminal.
14. Cerebrospinal fasciculus.
15. Raphé.
16. Fourth ventricle.
17. Inferior peduncle. Origin of striæ medullares.

The Vestibular nerve is one of the two branches of the Vestibulocochlear nerve (the cochlear nerve is the other.)

Axons of the vestibular nerve synapse in the vestibular nucleus on the lateral floor and wall of the fourth ventricle in the pons and medulla. The vestibular nerve goes to the semicircular canals via the vestibular ganglion. It receives positional information.

[edit] Details from Gray's anatomy

The vestibular nerve or root, the nerve of equilibration, arises from bipolar cells in the vestibular ganglion, ganglion of Scarpa, which is situated in the upper part of the outer end of the internal auditory meatus.

The peripheral fibers divide into three branches:

the superior branch passes through the foramina in the area vestibularis superior and ends in the utricle and in the ampullæ of the superior and lateral semicircular ducts;
the fibers of the inferior branch traverse the foramina in the area vestibularis inferior and end in the saccule;
the posterior branch runs through the foramen singulare and supplies the ampulla of the posterior semicircular duct.

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.