The dorsal nucleus of vagus nerve (or posterior nucleus of vagus nerve or dorsal vagal nucleus or nucleus dorsalis nervi vagi or nucleus posterior nervi vagi) is a cranial nerve nucleus for the vagus nerve in the medulla oblongata, medulla that lies ventral to the floor of the fourth ventricle. It mostly serves parasympathetic vagal functions in the gastrointestinal tract, lungs, and other thoracic and abdominal vagal innervations. These functions include, among others, bronchoconstriction and gland secretion.
The cell bodies for the preganglionic parasympathetic vagal neurons that innervate the heart reside in the nucleus ambiguus.
Additional cell bodies are found in the nucleus ambiguus, which give rise to the branchial efferent motor fibers of the vagus nerve (CN X) terminating in the laryngeal, pharyngeal muscles, and musculus uvulae.
Additional images
File:Gray694.png, Section of the medulla oblongata at about the middle of the olive.
File:Gray696.png, The cranial nerve nuclei schematically represented; dorsal view. Motor nuclei in red; sensory in blue.
File:Dorsal motor nucleus of Vagus with Lewy body pathology (alpha synucleinopathy).svg, Dorsal motor nucleus of Vagus with Lewy body pathology
See also
* Vagovagal reflex, gastrointestinal tract reflex circuits where afferent and efferent fibers of the vagus nerve.
* Nucleus ambiguus
References
External links
*
*
Overview at mcgill.caNIF Search - Dorsal nucleus of vagus nervevia the Neuroscience Information Framework
Vagus nerve
Cranial nerve nuclei
Medulla oblongata
{{neuroanatomy-stub