Inferior branch of oculomotor nerve

Template:Infobox Nerve Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]

The inferior branch of the oculomotor nerve or the inferior division, the larger, divides into three branches.

• One passes beneath the optic nerve to the medial rectus.
• Another, to the inferior rectus.
• The third and longest runs forward between the inferior recti and lateralis to the inferior oblique. From the last a short thick branch is given off to the lower part of the ciliary ganglion, and forms its short root.

All these branches enter the muscles on their ocular surfaces, with the exception of the nerve to the inferior oblique, which enters the muscle at its posterior border.

Additional images

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  Nerves of the orbit. Seen from above.
• 
  Nerves of the orbit, and the ciliary ganglion. Side view.
• 
  Dissection showing origins of right ocular muscles, and nerves entering by the superior orbital fissure.
• 
  Pathways in the Ciliary Ganglion.