Spinal nucleus of trigeminal nerve

The spinal nucleus of trigeminal nerve is a nucleus in the medulla that receives information about deep/crude touch, pain, and temperature from the ipsilateral face. In addition to the trigeminal nerve, the facial, glossopharyngeal, and vagus nerves also convey pain information from their areas to the spinal trigeminal nucleus. Thus the spinal trigeminal nucleus receives input from cranial nerves V, VII, IX, and X.

The spinal nucleus is composed of three subnuclei: subnucleus oralis, subnucleus caudalis, and subnucleus interpolaris. The subnucleus oralis is associated with the transmission of discriminative tactile sense from the orofacial region. The subnucleus interpolaris is also associated with the transmission of tactile sense, as well as dental pain, whereas the subnucleus caudalis is associated with the transmission of nociceptionand thermal sensations from the head.

This region is also denoted at sp5 in other neuroanatomical nomenclature.

This nucleus projects to the ventral posterior medial nucleus in the dorsal thalamus. In mice, this thalamic nucleus has significant amounts of expression of leptinreceptors, NPY and GLP-1.