ArticleClinical anatomy (New York, N.Y.)2010
Human tongue neuroanatomy: Nerve supply and motor endplates.
Article in Clinical anatomy (New York, N.Y.), 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 87 papers.
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Who cites it
87 citing papers in PubMed, 201 citations in OpenAlex.
- From Traditional Inspection to Quantitative Imaging: Tongue and Facial Color Features for Automated Machine Learning-Driven Depression and Schizophrenia Classification.Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The Association of NT-proBNP With Maximum Tongue Pressure After Cardiac Surgery: A Cross-Sectional Study.Journal of oral rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Brainstem Circuits for Rhythm Generation and Coordination of Orofacial Movements.Annual review of neuroscience · 2026Review
- The Spectrum of Abnormal Tongue Movements: Review of Phenomenology, Etiology, and Differential Diagnosis.Movement disorders clinical practice · 2026Review
- Biomechanics and Evolution of the Primate Tongue.Evolutionary anthropology · 2026Review
- MDASI-HN Symptom Profiling for Early-Risk Stratification of Hypoglossal Neuropathy in Survivors of Oropharyngeal Cancer.JAMA otolaryngology-- head & neck surgery · 2026Article
- Hypoglossal nerve stimulation in a pig model for evaluation of genioglossus muscle force with different stimulation parameters.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Impact of tongue exercise on hypoglossal axis survival, structure, and output in a rodent model of hypoglossal motor neuron degeneration.Journal of neurophysiology · 2026Article
- Regional Heterogeneity in the Electromyography Activity of Extrinsic Tongue Muscles Is Critical to Tongue Function.Integrative and comparative biology · 2025Article
- Review
- The Role of Stress in Burning Mouth Syndrome Triggered by Dental Treatments: A Two-Step Hypothesis.Journal of oral rehabilitation · 2025Article
- An Annotated Multi-Site and Multi-Contrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging Dataset for the study of the Human Tongue Musculature.Scientific data · 2025Article
- Compartmental inspiratory genioglossus electromyographic activity in supine, awake individuals with and without obstructive sleep apnoea.The Journal of physiology · 2025Article
- Implications of Tongue and Lingual Frenulum Anatomy for Tongue-Tie Evaluation and Management.Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992) · 2025Article
- Neuromuscular junction visualization in paraffin-embedded thyroarytenoid muscle sections: Expanding options beyond frozen section analysis.Laryngoscope investigative otolaryngology · 2025Article
- Design of a personalized oral‒motor exercise device for speech impairment rehabilitation.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2025Article
- Surgical hyoid bone repositioning effects on mandibular advancement and upper airway collapsibility: an anesthetized rabbit model study.Frontiers in physiology · 2025Article
- Potential role of glucagon like peptide 1 in taste receptors.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2025Review
- Review
- Article
27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The human tongue has a critical role in speech, swallowing, and respiration, however, its motor control is poorly understood. Fundamental gaps include detailed information on the course of the hypoglossal (XII) nerve within the tongue, the branches of the XII nerve within each tongue muscle, and the type and arrangement of motor endplates (MEP) within each muscle. In this study, five adult human tongues were processed with Sihler's stain, a whole-mount nerve staining technique, to map out the entire intra-lingual course of the XII nerve and its branches. An additional five specimens were microdissected into individual muscles and stained with acetylcholinesterase and silver staining to study their MEP morphology and banding patterns. Using these techniques the course of the entire XII nerve was mapped from the main nerve to the smallest intramuscular branches. It was found that the human tongue innervation is extremely dense and complex. Although the basic mammalian pattern of XII is conserved in humans, there are notable differences. In addition, many muscle fibers contained multiple en grappe MEP, suggesting that they are some variant of the highly specialized slow tonic muscle fiber type. The transverse muscle group that comprises the core of the tongue appears to have the most complex innervation and has the highest percentage of en grappe MEP. In summary, the innervation of the human tongue has specializations not reported in other mammalian tongues, including nonhuman primates. These specializations appear to allow for fine motor control of tongue shape.
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