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Tympanic plexus

Nerve: Tympanic plexus

View of the inner wall of the tympanum. (Grooves for tympanic plexus labeled at center.)

Plan of the facial and intermediate nerves and their communication with other nerves. (Tympanic plexus labeled at center.)
Latin	plexus tympanicus
Gray's	subject #204 909
From	caroticotympanic nerves, tympanic nerve
Dorlands/Elsevier	p_24/12648546

In the tympanic cavity, the tympanic nerve (a branch of CNIX) divides into branches which form the tympanic plexus. This plexus is located on the surface of the promontory.

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This tympanic plexus gives off:

(1) the lesser superficial petrosal nerve
(2) a branch to join the greater superficial petrosal nerve
(3) branches to the tympanic cavity

The branches of the tympanic cavity provide innervation to the mucosa of the middle ear. The lesser petrosal nerve provides autonomic parasympathetic fibers that eventually innervate the parotid gland.

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 As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated.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.

v • d • e Nerves of head and neck: the cranial nerves
I-IV	olfactory • optic • oculomotor (superior branch, inferior branch) • trochlear
V: trigeminal	trigeminal ganglion • ophthalmic • maxillary • mandibular
VI: abducens	no significant branches
VII: facial	nervus intermedius • geniculate • inside facial canal (greater petrosal, nerve to the stapedius, chorda tympani) • at exit from stylomastoid foramen (posterior auricular, digastric • stylohyoid) • on face (temporal, zygomatic, buccal, mandibular, cervical)
VIII: vestibulocochlear	cochlear (striae medullares, lateral lemniscus) • vestibular (Scarpa's ganglion)
IX: glossopharyngeal	nucleus ambiguus • ganglia (superior, petrous) • tympanic (tympanic plexus, lesser petrosal) • carotid sinus • pharyngeal branches • pharyngeal plexus
X: vagus	ganglia (jugular, nodose) • in the jugular fossa (meningeal branch, auricular branch) • in the neck (pharyngeal branch, superior laryngeal ext and int, recurrent laryngeal, superior cervical cardiac) • in the thorax (inferior cardiac, pulmonary branches, anterior vagal trunk, posterior vagal trunk) • in the abdomen (celiac branches - renal branches - hepatic branches of anterior vagal trunk - anterior gastric branches of anterior vagal trunk - posterior gastric branches of posterior vagal trunk)
XI-XII	accessory • hypoglossal