Autonomic Innervation of Head and Neck

Abstract

Innervation to the tissues of the head and neck is provided almost exclusively by 12 pairs of cranial nerves. As you are well aware by now, cranial nerves are an integral part of the peripheral nervous system (PNS), which transmits signals to and from the central nervous system (CNS). Some of the cranial nerves carry parasympathetic fibers of the autonomic nervous svstem (ANS); others contain fibers that supplv branchiomeric muscle.