Question

Your friend with poor vision invites you to join him at a shooting range for target practice. Unluckily, you get shot through the neck. Luckily, the bullet misses your spine, major blood vessels and trachea, but does sever both of your vagus nerves (cranial nerve X). How will this accident affect your digestive function? Explain in detail with the help of feedback loops how your stomach function is affected, and how it is NOT affected. Name ONE other target organ (pun intended) of the vagus nerve, and how loss of vagal stimulation would affect its function.

Organs like the stomach or pancreas

Answer 1

The 10th cranial nerve Vagus is mixed sensory and motor nerve supply mastication muscle (palatoglossal), have pharyngeal branch, esophageal branch, suplies to stomach, pancreas and liver also. As major digestion takes place in stomach so if the vagus nerve is injured it will also hinder digestive functions, it may result in gastroparesis in which stomach muscle slowly or cannot be be able to propel the food for gastric emptying. The person may suffer from vommiting, acid reflux etc. in gastroparesis as well as it also supplies tongue muscle palatoglossal so may leads to paralysis of tongue and mastication is also affected. Vagus also affects pancreatic insulin release so it may leads to no insulin release or high amount of insulin release which may leads to diabetes also.