MCQ MAHE 2000 Anatomy Answer 7

• The parasympathetic fibres of the Facial Nerve supply the lacrimal gland, the mucous glands of the nose and palate, the submandibular and sublingual salivary glands.

• The fibres which supply the lacrimal, nasal and palatine glands leave the facial nerve (at its genu inside the petrous bone as the greater petrosal nerve), passes through the pterygoid canal (at the root of the pterygoid process as the nerve of the pterygoid canal), and terminates in the pterygopalatine ganglion (located in the pterygopalatine fossa).
• The postganglionic fibres travel in the branches of the ganglion or the maxillary nerve to reach the nasal and palatine glands.
• The fibres supplying the lacrimal gland travel with the zygomatic nerve (a branch of the maxillary nerve, CN V2) to enter the orbit, then pass into the lacrimal branch of the ophthalmic nerve to reach the gland.

• Other preganglionic fibres leave the facial nerve in its chorda tympani branch. This nerve passes over the internal surface of the tympanic membrane before emerging from the skull through a small fissure, the petrotympanic fissure, in the temporal bone. It joints the lingual nerve (a branch of the mandibular nerve) to travel to, and synapse in, the submandibular ganglion, which is suspended from the lingual nerve.
• The postganglionic fibres either pass into the submandibular gland or rejoin the lingual nerve to reach the sublingual gland.

Category: MAHE 2000 MCQs