Trigeminal ganglion

Biological: Behavioural genetics · Evolutionary psychology · Neuroanatomy · Neurochemistry · Neuroendocrinology · Neuroscience · Psychoneuroimmunology · Physiological Psychology · Psychopharmacology (Index, Outline)

Nerve: Trigeminal ganglion (in red)

Nerves of the orbit. Seen from above. (Semilunar ganglion visible near bottom.)

Distribution of the maxillary and mandibular nerves, and the submaxillary ganglion. (Semilunar ganglion visible in upper left.)
Latin	ganglion trigeminale, ganglion semilunare (Gasseri)
Gray's	subject #200 886
Innervates
From
To
MeSH	A08.340.390.850

The trigeminal ganglion (or Gasserian ganglion, or semilunar ganglion) occupies a cavity (Meckel's cave) in the dura mater covering the trigeminal impression near the apex of the petrous part of the temporal bone.

It is somewhat crescentic in shape, with its convexity directed forward: medially, it is in relation with the internal carotid artery and the posterior part of the cavernous sinus.

The motor root runs in front of and medial to the sensory root, and passes beneath the ganglion; it leaves the skull through the foramen ovale, and, immediately below this foramen, joins the mandibular nerve.

The greater superficial petrosal nerve lies also underneath the ganglion.

The ganglion receives, on its medial side, filaments from the carotid plexus of the sympathetic.

It give off minute branches to the tentorium cerebelli, and to the dura mater in the middle fossa of the cranium.

From its convex border, which is directed forward and lateralward, three large nerves proceed, viz., the ophthalmic, maxillary, and mandibular.

The ophthalmic and maxillary consist exclusively of sensory fibers; the mandibular is joined outside the cranium by the motor root.

After recovery from a primary herpes infection, the virus is not cleared from the body, but rather lies dormant in a non-replicating state within the trigeminal ganglion.

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This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

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Nerves of head and neck: the cranial nerves

I-IV: olfactory - optic - oculomotor - trochlear

V: trigeminal: trigeminal ganglion
V1: ophthalmic: lacrimal - frontal (supratrochlear, supraorbital) - nasociliary (long root of ciliary, long ciliary, infratrochlear, posterior ethmoidal, anterior ethmoidal) - ciliary ganglion (short ciliary)
V2: maxillary: middle meningeal - in the pterygopalatine fossa (zygomatic, zygomaticotemporal, zygomaticofacial, sphenopalatine, posterior superior alveolar)
in the infraorbital canal/infraorbital nerve (middle superior alveolar, anterior superior alveolar)
on the face (inferior palpebral, external nasal, superior labial, infraorbital plexus) - pterygopalatine ganglion (deep petrosal, nerve of pterygoid canal)
branches of distribution (palatine, nasopalatine, pharyngeal)
V3: mandibular: nervus spinosus - medial pterygoid - anterior (masseteric, deep temporal, buccal, lateral pterygoid)
posterior (auriculotemporal, lingual, inferior alveolar, mylohyoid, mental) - otic ganglion - submandibular ganglion