Chapter contents
Overview
Origin, central course
Intracranial course
Final innervation
Clinical correlation
Unique features
| Cranial Nerve IV - Trochlear Nerve | Page 1 of 7 |
Overview
The trochlear nerve has only a somatic motor component:
|
Somatic motor (general somatic efferent) |
Somatic motor innervates the superior oblique muscle of the contralateral orbit. |
The superior oblique muscle is one of the six extraocular muscles responsible for the precise movement of the eye for visual tracking or fixation on an object.
See the occulomotor nerve (CN III) chapter for a discussion of eye movements and the interaction between the three nuclei and nerves that innervate the extraocular muscles.
Figure 4-1. Anatomic overview of the trochlear nerve.
