Table 1 Clinical characters of facial nerve
From: Facial nerve in skullbase tumors: imaging and clinical relevance
Facial nerve | Cranial nerve | 7th cranial nerve |
Fibers | Mixed with sensory, motor, and parasympathetic nerves | |
MR imaging | A hypointense structure surrounded by hyperintense liquor under T2-weighted MR | |
Facial nerve nucleus | • Visceral motor nuclei, located on the ventrolateral side of the lower pons' reticular structure; • Innervates the stylohyoid muscle, the posterior abdomen of the digastric muscle, and all the expression muscles | |
Superior salivary nucleus | General visceral motor fibers and belong to the preganglionic fibers of the parasympathetic ganglion, located in the pontine tegmentum of the brainstem | |
Inferior salivary nucleus | Located in the upper part of the medulla oblongata; Preganglionic fibers of the parasympathetic nerve | |
Solitary bundle nucleus | Located on the ventrolateral side of the dorsal nucleus of the vagus nerve | |