Fig. 1. Contribution from the ICP to the AN. (A, B) are different stages of the dissection of the right ICA and cavernous sinus of a single specimen. (A) The ICA has been exposed from the anterior aspect and the cavernous sinus has been dissected away. The optic nerve (CN II), oculomotor nerve (CN III) and AN are visible. The AN (white arrowheads) can be seen emerging from the brainstem and coursing lateral to the ICA. Branches from the ICP joining the AN are indicated by blue arrowheads. A deeper dissection of this region is (B) the AN (white arrowheads) is pulled away from the ICA with forceps to demonstrate the branches from the ICP (blue arrowheads). (C) is a dissection of the ICA and cavernous sinus from the left side of a different specimen where the venous plexus, CN II and branches for CN V have been removed. The AN (white arrowheads) courses lateral to the ICA and is joined by multiple branches from the ICP (blue arrowheads). The scale bars are all equal to 5 mm. ICP, internal carotid sympathetic plexus; AN, abducens nerve; ICA, internal carotid artery; TT, torus tubaris, V, vertebral artery; MO, medulla oblongata; P, pons; B, basilar artery; R, rostral; S, superior.
© Anat Cell Biol
pISSN 2093-3665
eISSN 2093-3673
