nerve of Hering

nerve of Her·ing

noun \-ˈher-iŋ\

Definition of NERVE OF HERING

: a nerve that arises from the main trunk of the glossopharyngeal nerve and runs along the internal carotid artery to supply afferent fibers especially to the baroreceptors of the carotid sinus

Biographical Note for NERVE OF HERING

Hering, Heinrich Ewald (1866–1948), German physiologist. Hering was appointed professor of general and experimental pathology at Prague in 1901 and from 1913 was director of an institute of pathological physiology at Cologne. In 1923, while studying a reflex whereby pressure on the carotid artery at the level of the cricoid cartilage results in a slowing of the pulse rate, he identified the origin of the reflex in the nerve endings in the carotid sinus, the region where the common carotid artery forks to form the internal and external carotid arteries. In 1924 he published the first description of the structure and function of the nerve (now called the nerve of Hering) which innervates this region.