Optic nerve

The optic nerve consists mainly of nerve fibers (or "axons") extending from the ganglionic cells[?] of the eye's retina. The axons terminate in the lateral geniculate nucleus[?], pulvinar[?], and superior colliculus[?], all of which belong to the primary visual center. From the lateral geniculate body and the pulvinar fibers pass to the visual cortex.

The optic nerve contains roughly one million nerve fibers. This number is low compared to the roughly 130 million receptors in the retina, and implies that substantial pre-processing takes place in the retina before the signals are sent to the brain through the optic nerve.

The optic nerve is one of the cranial nerves.