Superior branch of oculomotor nerve at a glance
- What it is
- The superior division of the oculomotor nerve supplies the superior rectus and the levator palpebrae superioris.
- Location
- It arises from the oculomotor nerve near the superior orbital fissure, passes through the common tendinous ring and runs above the optic nerve.
- Function
- It innervates the superior rectus and levator palpebrae superioris.
- Body system
- Nervous · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA52575 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Part of CN III.
- It is the smaller of the two divisions and carries no parasympathetic fibres.
- It enters the deep surface of superior rectus and continues through it to levator palpebrae superioris.
Clinical relevance
Damage causes ptosis and impaired upward gaze.
Structures next to the superior branch of oculomotor nerve
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Frontal nerve · nervous
- Communicating branch of nasociliary nerve with ciliary ganglion · nervous
- Ciliary ganglion · nervous
- Superior rectus · muscular
- Long ciliary nerve · nervous
- Optic nerve · nervous
- Lacrimal nerve · nervous
- Levator palpebrae superioris · muscular
- Superior oblique · muscular
- Inferior branch of oculomotor nerve · nervous
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Superior branch of oculomotor nerve (FMA52575). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §12.1 Basic Structure and Function of the Nervous System. Rice University, 2022.
- Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.