Carotid sinus nerve


The carotid sinus nerve is a small branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve that innervates the carotid sinus and carotid body.
It is a branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve that runs downwards, anterior to the internal carotid artery. It communicates with the vagus nerve and sympathetic trunk and then divides in the angle of the bifurcation of the common carotid artery to innervate the carotid body and carotid sinus. It carries impulses from the baroreceptors in the carotid sinus to the vasomotor center in the brainstem and from chemoreceptors in the carotid body. Hering's nerve responds to both increases and decreases in blood pressure while the baroreceptors in the aortic arch respond only to increases in blood pressure.