Inferior branch of oculomotor nerve

Nerve: Inferior branch of oculomotor nerve

Plan of oculomotor nerve. (Inferior branch visible at bottom.)
Latin	ramus inferior nervi oculomotorii
Gray's	subject #198 884
Innervates	Inferior rectus, Medial rectus, Inferior oblique, Ciliary
From	oculomotor nerve
Dorlands/Elsevier	r_02/12690314

The inferior branch of the oculomotor nerve or the inferior division, the larger, divides into three branches.

One passes beneath the optic nerve to the medial rectus.
Another, to the inferior rectus.
The third and longest runs forward between the inferior recti and lateralis to the inferior oblique. From the last a short thick branch is given off to the lower part of the ciliary ganglion, and forms its short root.

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All these branches enter the muscles on their ocular surfaces, with the exception of the nerve to the inferior oblique, which enters the muscle at its posterior border.

Additional images

v • d • e Nerves of head and neck: the cranial nerves
I-IV	olfactory • optic • oculomotor (superior branch, inferior branch) • trochlear
V: trigeminal	trigeminal ganglion • ophthalmic • maxillary • mandibular
VI: abducens	no significant branches
VII: facial	nervus intermedius • geniculate • inside facial canal (greater petrosal, nerve to the stapedius, chorda tympani) • at exit from stylomastoid foramen (posterior auricular, digastric • stylohyoid) • on face (temporal, zygomatic, buccal, mandibular, cervical)
VIII: vestibulocochlear	cochlear (striae medullares, lateral lemniscus) • vestibular (Scarpa's ganglion)
IX: glossopharyngeal	nucleus ambiguus • ganglia (superior, petrous) • tympanic (tympanic plexus, lesser petrosal) • carotid sinus • pharyngeal branches • pharyngeal plexus
X: vagus	ganglia (jugular, nodose) • in the jugular fossa (meningeal branch, auricular branch) • in the neck (pharyngeal branch, superior laryngeal ext and int, recurrent laryngeal, superior cervical cardiac) • in the thorax (inferior cardiac, pulmonary branches, anterior vagal trunk, posterior vagal trunk) • in the abdomen (celiac branches - renal branches - hepatic branches of anterior vagal trunk - anterior gastric branches of anterior vagal trunk - posterior gastric branches of posterior vagal trunk)
XI-XII	accessory • hypoglossal