Nature and Uses of Primary Data Sources Page 1 of 14 ______________________________________________________________________.
cranial nerve - any of the 12 paired nerves that originate in the brain stem. 1  nerve, nervus - any bundle of nerve fibers running to various organs and tissues of the body. 2  first cranial nerve, nervii olfactorii, olfactory nerve - a collective term for numerous olfactory filaments in the nasal mucosa.
A cranial nerve nucleus is a collection of neurons (gray matter) in the brain stem that is associated with one or more cranial nerves. Axons carrying information to and from the cranial nerves form a synapse first at these nuclei.his arrangement mirrors the arrangement of tracts in the spinal cord. 1  Close to the midline are the motor efferent nuclei, such as the oculomotor nucleus, which control skeletal muscle. 2  Just lateral to this are the autonomic (or visceral) efferent nuclei.