What are the cranial nerves?
The the cranial nerves is called the cranial nerves. Gray's Anatomy (1918) describes it as twelve pairs of nerves that emerge directly from the brain and brainstem.
What it is
- Twelve pairs of nerves that emerge directly from the brain and brainstem.
- Numbered I to XII from front to back.
- Supply structures of the head and neck (with the vagus nerve also reaching the trunk).
Where it is
- Leave the skull through openings (foramina) in its base.
- Their nuclei lie mostly in the brainstem.
- Named for the structures they supply or their function.
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Last verified: 2026-07-18
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