Olfactory nerve (CN I)

Watch video

The olfactory nerve (CN I) is a special sensory (special visceral afferent [SVA]) nerve that carries the sensation of smell (olfaction) via a series of nervous structures, which make up the olfactory pathway to the brain. This allows us to detect various odors. Each olfactory nerve proper is actually one of 15-20 olfactory fiber bundles, which consist of bipolar olfactory sensory neurons located in the olfactory mucosa of the roof of the nasal cavity. These fiber bundles course through small tiny foramina in the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone to enter the cranial cavity, where they join the olfactory bulb.

In the olfactory bulb, the olfactory nerve fibers synapse with primary dendrites of projection neurons (known as mitral and tufted cells) to form an olfactory glomerulus. Axons from these neurons project posteriorly as the olfactory tract. As it courses posteriorly, each olfactory tract bifurcates at the olfactory trigone into the medial and lateral olfactory striae. The olfactory striae project into areas of the olfactory cortex, allowing perception of smell. The olfactory bulb also receives efferent fibers which synapse on granular cells and subsequently interact with mitral and tufted cells to modulate the sensation of smell.

This video will help you learn more about the olfactory nerve and olfactory pathway.

Take a quiz

Test your knowledge with our quiz on the olfactory nerve and related structures:

Do you want to learn more about the organization of the olfactory system? Try out this customizable quiz to improve your understanding. You can customize this yourself to your preference and save your selection to quiz yourself later!

Browse atlas

Take a look at our atlas galleries to further review the structures of the olfactory pathway, as well as the microscopic anatomy of the olfactory organ and bulb.

Summary