Cranial Nerves

We recently had a lecture on the cranial nerves and the course they travel throughout the skull.  We needed to know what each of the 12 cranial nerves innervated and which foramina they traveled through, there are tons of different mnemonics for this.  The sympathetic nerves were fairly easy but drawing the parasympathetic axons traveling to the glands was more like creating a maze.  I found a pretty decent youtube video and followed his format to draw out the path the parasympathetic axons out of the cranial region to the glands they innervate.  One of the more interesting clinical symptoms was a syndrome known as "Crocodile Tears."  The axons that innervate the glands of the tongue and the eye initially travel within the same nerve bundle, cranial nerve VII.  If there is damage to that nerve before it leaves the cranial fossa then the action potential may travel along the wrong axon, going to the lacrimal gland (causes crying) instead of the sublingual and submandibular glands (cause salivation).  Therefore, the sweet aroma of a juicy bacon cheeseburger will cause a steady flow of tears, like an infant when it's time to eat those peas.  I might shed a tear or two myself when I get back to the smell of home-cooked food ( just a few more days!)