Olfactory Nerve Cranium CN I
CN I. Olfactory Nerve

The olfactory nerve is actually a collection of sensory nerve rootlets that extend down from the olfactory bulb and pass through the many openings of the cribriform plate in the ethmoid bone. These specialized sensory receptive parts of the olfactory nerve are then located in the olfactory mucosa of the upper parts of the nasal cavity.  During breathing air molecules attach to the olfactory mucosa and stimulate the olfactory receptors of cranial nerve I and electrical activity is transduced into the olfactory bulb. Olfactory bulb cells then transmit electrical activity to other parts of the central nervous system via the olfactory tract.