This nucleus gives rise to the 6th cranial nerve that innervates the lateral rectus muscle of the ipsilateral eye, causing that eye to “abduct”. It is found in the caudal pons, lying just off the midline and just beneath the floor of the fourth ventricle, where the fascicles of the VIIth nerve arch over the abducens nucleus and form these “bulges” on the floor of the fourth ventricle known as the facial colliculus.
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