Definition of "abducens" [abducens]

• Either of the sixth pair of cranial nerves that convey motor impulses to the rectus muscle on the lateral side of each eye. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "From the ventral longitudinal bundle collaterals are given off to the nuclei of the eye muscles, the oculomotor, the trochlear and the abducens."
• "Since oculomotor and abducens nuclei are intimately connected by the posterior longitudinal bundle this decussation of fibers to the Medial rectus may facilitate the conjugate movements of the eyes in which the Medial and Lateral recti are especially involved."
• "The fibers arise from the nucleus of the abducens nerve and pass ventrally through the formatio reticularis of the pons to emerge in the transverse groove between the caudal edge of the pons and the pyramid."