Oblique section through the cavernous sinus.
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| colspan="2" |Nerves of the orbit, and the ciliary ganglion. Side view. (Abducens visible center bottom)
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|Latin
|colspan="2"|Nervus abducens
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|
|colspan="2"|[subject #201 ]
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|Innervates
|colspan="2"|lateral rectus muscle
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|From
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|To
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|MeSH
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|Dorlands/Elsevier
|colspan="2"|[/]
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The sixth of twelve cranial nerves, the abducent nerve is a motor nerve that innervates the lateral rectus muscle and therefore controls each eye's ability to abduct (move away from the midline). The abducent nerve emerges from the ipsilateral abducens nucleus between the caudal pons beneath the floor of the fourth ventricle and the medulla (the pontomedullary junction). It pierces the dura mater on the dorsum sellae. It then runs anteriorly through the cavernous sinus. The abducent nerve exits the skull through the superior orbital fissure, one of the holes in the skull behind the eye.
