The nasal cavities receive both sensory and visceral innervation. Small olfactory nerves enter each nasal cavity through openings in the cribiform plate of the ethmoid. This olfactory epithelium is responsible for the sence of smell. The anterior ethmoidal nerve, a branch of the ophthalmic nerve, courses with the anterior ethmoidal artery to the anterior parts of the conchae. Branches of the infraorbital nerve, a branch of the maxillary nerve, enter the nasal cavity from the face.
Sympathetic innervation supplies mainly vascular smooth muscle.
Postganglionic neurons from the superior cervical ganglion contribute axons to the carotid sympathetic plexus. These axons enter the nasal region on either the anterior ethmoidal or sphenopalatine arteries. The plexus of axons coursing with the sphenopalatine arteries is derived from the deep petrosal nerve and the nerve of the pterygoid canal. Parasympathetic innervation of the nasal region is to small glands distributed throughout the mucous membranes of the septum, conchae, and palate. Postganglionic axons to these glands are all derived from cells of the pterygopalatine ganglion that course in the nasopalatine nerve and its branches.