Development of the Cranial Nerves

Abstract

The cranial nerves are 12 pairs of nerves that emerge from the brain stem to innervate the face, sensory organs, and some regions of the body. During development of the cranial nerves, a number of unique features including neural tube, neural crest and glial cells, specialized paired sense organs, thickenings of the head ectoderm known as cranial placodes, and also cranial sensory ganglia are needed. Moreover, many signaling molecules play important roles when cranial nerves are developing. Here we describe the development of the cranial nerves and their components and summarize development of the central nervous system, signaling molecules, and developmental abnormalities of the cranial nerves. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved.