[1] Chorda tympani has a complex course from the brainstem, through the temporal bone and middle ear, into the infratemporal fossa, and ending in the oral cavity.

[3] The chorda then exits the skull by descending through the petrotympanic fissure into the infratemporal fossa just lateral to the styloid bone.

Traveling with the lingual nerve, the fibers of chorda tympani enter the sublingual space to reach the anterior 2/3 of the tongue and submandibular ganglion.

This takeover of space by the chorda tympani is believed to be the nerve reverting to its original state before competition and pruning.

[11] According to a study done by Sollars et al. in 2002, when the chorda tympani has been transected early in postnatal development some of the fungiform papillae undergo a structural change to become more “filiform-like”.

The chorda tympani appears to exert a particularly strong inhibitory influence on other taste nerves, as well as on pain fibers in the tongue.