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Part 1: Image-Mapped Tutorial
Part 2: Matching Self-Test
Part 3: Multiple-Choice Self-Test
Cranial Nerve 6 - Abducens (VI)
The abducens nerve conveys sensory information from a specific muscle of the eye. The motor component controls the movement of the same extrinsic eye muscle.
| Advanced |
The sixth cranial nerve contains primarily motor fibers that originate in the pons and pass through the superior orbital fissure (narrow slit or cleft, above the orbit) of the skull (Parent, 1996). These fibers innervate the lateral rectus muscle, which when contracted causes the eye to abduct or look away from the midline toward the side (thus, its name, Abducens). The sensory fibers carry proprioceptive information from the same extrinsic eye muscle.
| Reference |
Parent, A. (1996). Carpenter's human neuroanatomy (9th ed.). London: Williams & Wilkins.