Esophagus and Vagus nerve

The digestive tract, with the esophagus marked in red
Plan of the upper portions of the glossopharyngeal, vagus, and accessory nerves.
The esophagus is constricted in three places.
H&E stained fibers of the vagus nerve (bottom right) innervate the sinoatrial node tissue (middle left)
A mass seen during an endoscopy and an ultrasound of the mass conducted during the endoscopy session.
Inferior view of the human brain, with the cranial nerves labeled.
Section of the neck at about the level of the sixth cervical vertebra
Transverse section of thorax, showing relations of pulmonary artery
The arch of the aorta, and its branches
Dura mater and its processes exposed by removing part of the right half of the skull, and the brain
The tracheobronchial lymph glands
Section of the medulla oblongata at about the middle of the olive
Hind- and mid-brains; postero-lateral view
Upper part of medulla spinalis and hind- and mid-brains; posterior aspect, exposed in situ
The right sympathetic chain and its connections with the thoracic, abdominal, and pelvic plexuses
The celiac ganglia with the sympathetic plexuses of the abdominal viscera radiating from the ganglia
The position and relation of the esophagus in the cervical region and in the posterior mediastinum, seen from behind
The thyroid gland and its relations
The thymus of a full-term fetus, exposed in situ
Deep dissection of vagus nerve
Vagus nerve – dissection

The right vagus nerve gives rise to the right recurrent laryngeal nerve, which hooks around the right subclavian artery and ascends into the neck between the trachea and esophagus.

- Vagus nerve

Its smooth muscle is innervated by involuntary nerves (sympathetic nerves via the sympathetic trunk and parasympathetic nerves via the vagus nerve) and in addition voluntary nerves (lower motor neurons) which are carried in the vagus nerve to innervate its striated muscle.

- Esophagus
The digestive tract, with the esophagus marked in red

7 related topics

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Heart

Muscular organ in most animals that pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system.

Muscular organ in most animals that pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system.

Human heart during an autopsy
Computer-generated animation of a beating human heart
The human heart is in the middle of the thorax, with its apex pointing to the left.
Heart being dissected showing right and left ventricles, from above
Frontal section showing papillary muscles attached to the tricuspid valve on the right and to the mitral valve on the left via chordae tendineae.
Layers of the heart wall, including visceral and parietal pericardium
The swirling pattern of myocardium helps the heart pump effectively
Arterial supply to the heart (red), with other areas labelled (blue).
Autonomic innervation of the heart
Development of the human heart during the first eight weeks (top) and the formation of the heart chambers (bottom). In this figure, the blue and red colors represent blood inflow and outflow (not venous and arterial blood). Initially, all venous blood flows from the tail/atria to the ventricles/head, a very different pattern from that of an adult.
Blood flow through the valves
The cardiac cycle as correlated to the ECG
The x-axis reflects time with a recording of the heart sounds. The y-axis represents pressure.
Transmission of a cardiac action potential through the heart's conduction system
Conduction system of the heart
The prepotential is due to a slow influx of sodium ions until the threshold is reached followed by a rapid depolarization and repolarization. The prepotential accounts for the membrane reaching threshold and initiates the spontaneous depolarization and contraction of the cell; there is no resting potential.
3D echocardiogram showing the mitral valve (right), tricuspid and mitral valves (top left) and aortic valve (top right). The closure of the heart valves causes the heart sounds.
Cardiac cycle shown against ECG
Heart and its blood vessels, by Leonardo da Vinci, 15th century
Animated heart
Elize Ryd making a heart sign at a concert in 2018
The tube-like heart (green) of the mosquito Anopheles gambiae extends horizontally across the body, interlinked with the diamond-shaped wing muscles (also green) and surrounded by pericardial cells (red). Blue depicts cell nuclei.
Basic arthropod body structure – heart shown in red
The human heart viewed from the front
The human heart viewed from behind
The coronary circulation
The human heart viewed from the front and from behind
Frontal section of the human heart
An anatomical specimen of the heart
Heart illustration with circulatory system
Animated Heart 3d Model Rendered in Computer

The heart receives nerve signals from the vagus nerve and from nerves arising from the sympathetic trunk.

Echocardiography can be conducted by a probe on the chest (transthoracic), or by a probe in the esophagus (transesophageal).

Anatomy of the larynx, anterolateral view

Larynx

Organ in the top of the neck involved in breathing, producing sound and protecting the trachea against food aspiration.

Organ in the top of the neck involved in breathing, producing sound and protecting the trachea against food aspiration.

Anatomy of the larynx, anterolateral view
The basic parts of the human larynx.
Vocal cords abducted and adducted
Extrinsic laryngeal muscles
Image of endoscopy
Endoscopic image of an inflamed human larynx
Larynx. Deep dissection. Anterior view.
Larynx. Deep dissection. Posterior view.

It is situated just below where the tract of the pharynx splits into the trachea and the esophagus.

The larynx is innervated by branches of the vagus nerve on each side.

Conducting passages

Trachea

Cartilaginous tube that connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs, allowing the passage of air, and so is present in almost all air-breathing animals with lungs.

Cartilaginous tube that connects the larynx to the bronchi of the lungs, allowing the passage of air, and so is present in almost all air-breathing animals with lungs.

Conducting passages
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Lymph nodes of the trachea.
Tracheal diverticulum as seen on axial CT imaging
Tracheal system of dissected cockroach. The largest tracheae run across the width of the body of the cockroach and are horizontal in this image. Scale bar, 2 mm.
The tracheal system branches into progressively smaller tubes, here supplying the crop of the cockroach. Scale bar, 2 mm.
thumb|Cross section of a trachea and esophagus
The sternohyoid and sternothyroid muscles lie on top of the upper part of the trachea
The thyroid gland also lies on top of the trachea, and lies below the cricoid cartilage.
Cross-section
Cross-section of the trachea, with pseudostratified ciliated columnar epithelium and goblet cells labelled
Magnified cross-section of the cartilage of the trachea.
Trachea
Coronal section of larynx and upper part of trachea
alt=Trachea (mammal) cross-section high resolution|Trachea (mammal) cross-section high resolution
alt=Trachea (mammal) cross-section low resolution|Trachea (mammal) cross-section low resolution

Behind the trachea, along its length, sits the oesophagus, followed by connective tissue and the vertebral column.

To its sides run the carotid arteries and inferior thyroid arteries; and to its sides on its back surface run the recurrent laryngeal nerves in the upper trachea, and the vagus nerves in the lower trachea.

Autonomic nervous system innervation, showing the parasympathetic (craniosacral) systems in blue.

Parasympathetic nervous system

One of the three divisions of the autonomic nervous system, the others being the sympathetic nervous system and the enteric nervous system.

One of the three divisions of the autonomic nervous system, the others being the sympathetic nervous system and the enteric nervous system.

Autonomic nervous system innervation, showing the parasympathetic (craniosacral) systems in blue.

Specific nerves include several cranial nerves, specifically the oculomotor nerve, facial nerve, glossopharyngeal nerve, and vagus nerve.

2) The vagus nerve does not participate in these cranial ganglia as most of its parasympathetic fibers are destined for a broad array of ganglia on or near thoracic viscera (esophagus, trachea, heart, lungs) and abdominal viscera (stomach, pancreas, liver, kidneys, small intestine, and about half of the large intestine). The vagus innervation ends at the junction between the midgut and hindgut, just before the splenic flexure of the transverse colon.

Transverse section of medulla oblongata below the middle of the olive. ("Nucleus ambiguus" labeled at center right.)

Nucleus ambiguus

Group of large motor neurons, situated deep in the medullary reticular formation named by Jacob Clarke.

Group of large motor neurons, situated deep in the medullary reticular formation named by Jacob Clarke.

Transverse section of medulla oblongata below the middle of the olive. ("Nucleus ambiguus" labeled at center right.)
Section of the medulla oblongata at about the middle of the olive.
The cranial nerve nuclei schematically represented; dorsal view. Motor nuclei in red; sensory in blue.
Nuclei of origin of cranial motor nerves schematically represented; lateral view.
The formatio reticularis of the medulla oblongata, shown by a transverse section passing through the middle of the olive.

This nucleus gives rise to the branchial efferent motor fibers of the vagus nerve (CN X) terminating in the laryngeal, pharyngeal muscles, and musculus uvulae; as well as to the efferent motor fibers of the glossopharyngeal nerve (CN IX) terminating in the stylopharyngeus muscle.

The vagus also supplies the upper part of the esophagus, and other parts of the pharynx and larynx.

The diaphragm. Under surface. (Esophageal hiatus labeled at center right.)

Esophageal hiatus

The diaphragm. Under surface. (Esophageal hiatus labeled at center right.)

In human anatomy, the esophageal hiatus is an opening in the diaphragm through which the esophagus and the vagus nerve pass.

14th-century illustration of vomiting from the Casanatense Tacuinum Sanitatis

Vomiting

Involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose.

Involuntary, forceful expulsion of the contents of one's stomach through the mouth and sometimes the nose.

14th-century illustration of vomiting from the Casanatense Tacuinum Sanitatis
Vomiting
Partially digested food, with man-sized glove for scale
A drunk man vomiting, while a young slave is holding his forehead. Brygos Painter, 500–470 BC
Special bags are often supplied on boats for sick passengers to vomit into.

Repeated or profuse vomiting may cause erosions to the esophagus or small tears in the esophageal mucosa (Mallory–Weiss tear).

The cranial nerve X (vagus nerve) is activated when the pharynx is irritated, leading to a gag reflex.