The cervical branch of the facial nerve is a nerve in the

neck The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

. It is a branch of the

facial nerve The facial nerve, also known as the seventh cranial nerve, cranial nerve VII, or simply CN VII, is a cranial nerve that emerges from the pons of the brainstem, controls the muscles of facial expression, and functions in the conveyance of tas ...

(VII). It supplies the

platysma muscle The platysma muscle is a superficial muscle of the human neck that overlaps the sternocleidomastoid. It covers the anterior surface of the neck superficially. When it contracts, it produces a slight wrinkling of the neck, and a "bowstring" effect ...

, among other functions.

Structure

The cervical branch of the facial nerve is a branch of the

(VII). It runs forward beneath the

, and forms a series of arches across the side of the neck over the

suprahyoid The suprahyoid muscles are four muscles located above the hyoid bone in the neck. They are the digastric, stylohyoid, geniohyoid, and mylohyoid muscles. They are all pharyngeal muscles, with the exception of the geniohyoid muscle. The digastric ...

region. One branch descends to join the cervical cutaneous nerve from the

cervical plexus The cervical plexus is a plexus of the anterior rami of the first four cervical spinal nerves which arise from C1 to C4 cervical segment in the neck. They are located laterally to the transverse processes between prevertebral muscles from the medi ...

Function

The lateral part of the cervical branch of the facial nerve supplies the

Additional images

File:Lateral head anatomy detail.jpg, Lateral head anatomy detail File:Slide1BAB.JPG, Lateral head anatomy detail. Dissection the newborn File:Slide1CAC.JPG, Lateral head anatomy detail. Facial nerve dissection.

References

External links

* - "Branches of Facial Nerve (CN VII)" * () * () * https://web.archive.org/web/20080921093026/http://www.dartmouth.edu/~humananatomy/figures/chapter_47/47-5.HTM Facial nerve {{Neuroanatomy-stub