Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Cervical plexus

Formed by the anterior rami of C1–C4 in front of levator scapulae and scalenus medius, under the prevertebral fascia. It supplies skin and muscles of the neck and the diaphragm.

Key points

• C1–C4.
• Nerve point: middle of the posterior border of sternocleidomastoid.
• Cutaneous: lesser occipital, great auricular, transverse cervical, supraclavicular.
• Ansa cervicalis → infrahyoid muscles; phrenic C3–5.
• Ventral root: basal-lamina neurons. Dorsal root: neural-crest ganglion cells.
• Schwann cells: neural crest.
• Nerve: epineurium → perineurium (blood–nerve barrier) → endoneurium.
• Cut nerve: Wallerian degeneration; regrows 0.5–3 mm/day.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Branches · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1688–1690
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 17, PDF pp. 318, 321, 323–325
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 9, PDF pp. 163–166, 171–172

More from the head and neck

• Ciliary body
• Common carotid artery
• Common tendinous ring
• Cornea
• Corniculate and cuneiform cartilages
• Corpus callosum
• Corpus striatum
• Cricoid cartilage
• Cricothyroid
• Deep cervical lymph nodes
• Digastric
• Dura mater

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