A branchiomeric cranial nerve that contains sensory and motor components. Motor axons from the facial lobe innervate muscles derived from the second branchial arch. The motor neurons are generated in rhombomere 4. VII innervates the following hyoid arch muscles :Interhyal, Hyohyal, Abductor hyomandibulae, Abductor operculi.
Facial nerve motor neurons and the facial motor nerve root are labelled with choline acetyltransferase(ChAT) the acetylcholine synthesising enzyme indicating that this nucleus forms part of the cholinergic system in zebrafish . In the facial lobe ChAT+ fibres form a dense net. This innervation couls come from the ventral motor trigeminal nucleus which projects to facial and vagal lobes in the goldfish (Mueller et al., 2004) .
Key Publications
Shin-ichi Higashijima, Yoshiki Hotta, and Hitoshi Okamoto
Visualization of Cranial Motor Neurons in Live Transgenic Zebrafish Expressing Green Fluorescent Protein Under the Control of the Islet-1 Promoter/Enhancer.
The Journal of Neuroscience, January 1, 2000, 20(1):206–218
Jeroen Crucke, Annelore Van de Kelft and Ann Huysseune
The innervation of the zebrafish pharyngeal jaws and teeth.
Journal of Anatomy(2015)227, pp62-71. doi: 10.1111/joa.12321
Jane A. Cox, Angela LaMora, Stephen L. Johnson, Mark M. Voigt
Diverse mechanisms for assembly of branchiomeric nerves.
Developmental Biology 357 (2011) 305–317
Thomas Mueller, Philippe Vernier, Mario F. Wullimann
The adult central nervous cholinergic system of a neurogenetic model animal, the zebrafish Danio rerio
Brain Research 1011 (2004) 156–169