# What is the abducent nerve?

Gray’s Anatomy (1918) describes the abducent nerve as follows: The abducent nerve supplies the Rectus lateralis oculi.

## What it means

- The abducent nerve supplies the Rectus lateralis oculi. Its fibers arise from a small nucleus situated in the upper part of the rhomboid fossa, close to the middle line and beneath the colliculus facialis. They pass downward and forward through the pons, and emerge in the furrow between the lower border of the pons and the upper end of the pyramid of the medulla oblongata.
- From the nucleus of the sixth nerve, fibers are said to pass through the medial longitudinal fasciculus to the oculomotor nerve of the opposite side, along which they are carried to the Rectus medialis. The Rectus lateralis of one eye and the Rectus medialis of the other may therefore be said to receive their nerves from the same nucleus .

## Sources

- [Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body (1918)](https://www.bartleby.com/lit-hub/anatomy-of-the-human-body/1f-the-abducent-nerve/)

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