Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Superior oblique

An extraocular muscle whose tendon passes through a fibrocartilaginous pulley (the trochlea) on the frontal bone; the only muscle supplied by the trochlear nerve.

Key points

• CN IV ("SO4").
• Tendon through the trochlea.
• Down and out; test: look in, then down.
• Superior oblique: somitomere 3.
• Tiny motor units (10–15 cells) → fine control.
• Skeletal muscle: multinucleated, peripheral nuclei, striated.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Origin · Insertion · Action · Nerve supply · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1574–1575, 1589–1593, 1684
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 7, PDF p. 109; ch. 9, PDF p. 126
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 8, PDF pp. 135–144, 143

More from the head and neck

• Superior rectus
• Superior temporal gyrus
• Teeth
• Temporal bone
• Temporal lobe
• Temporalis
• Temporomandibular joint
• Tensor veli palatini
• Thalamus
• Thyroarytenoid and vocalis
• Thyrohyoid
• Thyroid cartilage

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