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refers to the first of the cranial nerves (I). It consists of very short filamentous bundles of unmyelinated nerve axons that originate from bipolar sensory cells in the olfactory mucosa high in the nasal cavity. They project through the cribiform plate, the thin boney roof of the nasal cavity, to the olfactory bulb on the floor of the cranial cavity. They are the first neurons in the olfactory system, which is responsible for the sense of smell. The nerve is demonstrated by fiber stains in the human, macaque, rat and mouse ( Price-1990 ).
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