10 Facts About Vagus nerve

Vagus nerve, known as the tenth cranial nerve, cranial nerve X, or simply CN X, is a cranial nerve that interfaces with the parasympathetic control of the heart, lungs, and digestive tract.

The cell bodies of visceral afferent fibers of the vagus nerve are located bilaterally in the inferior ganglion of the vagus nerve .

Right vagus nerve gives rise to the right recurrent laryngeal nerve, which hooks around the right subclavian artery and ascends into the neck between the trachea and esophagus.

Vagus nerve includes axons which emerge from or converge onto four nuclei of the medulla:.

Motor division of the glossopharyngeal Vagus nerve is derived from the basal plate of the embryonic medulla oblongata, while the sensory division originates from the cranial neural crest.

Vagus nerve plays a role in satiation following food consumption.

Excessive activation of the vagal Vagus nerve during emotional stress, which is a parasympathetic overcompensation for a strong sympathetic nervous system response associated with stress, can cause vasovagal syncope due to a sudden drop in cardiac output, causing cerebral hypoperfusion.

Vagus nerve stimulation therapy using a neurostimulator implanted in the chest is a treatment used since 1997 to control seizures in epilepsy patients and has been approved for treating drug-resistant cases of clinical depression.

Vagus nerve blocking therapy is similar to VNS but used only during the day.

Arnold's Vagus nerve ear-cough reflex though uncommon is a manifestation of a vagal sensory neuropathy and this is the cause of a refractory chronic cough that can be treated with gabapentin.