Trochlear Nerve - Central Anatomy

Central Anatomy

The nucleus of the trochlear nerve is located in the caudal mesencephalon beneath the cerebral aqueduct. It is immediately below the nucleus of the oculomotor nerve (III) in the rostral mesencephalon.

The trochlear nucleus is unique in that its axons run dorsally and cross the midline before emerging from the brainstem. Thus a lesion of the trochlear nucleus affects the contralateral eye. Lesions of all other cranial nuclei affect the ipsilateral side except the optic nerves - cranial nerve II - which innervate both eyes.

Read more about this topic:  Trochlear Nerve

Famous quotes containing the words central and/or anatomy:

    In inner-party politics, these methods lead, as we shall yet see, to this: the party organization substitutes itself for the party, the central committee substitutes itself for the organization, and, finally, a “dictator” substitutes himself for the central committee.
    Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)

    But a man must keep an eye on his servants, if he would not have them rule him. Man is a shrewd inventor, and is ever taking the hint of a new machine from his own structure, adapting some secret of his own anatomy in iron, wood, and leather, to some required function in the work of the world. But it is found that the machine unmans the user. What he gains in making cloth, he loses in general power.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)