Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Ciliary body

Part of the middle vascular coat, between the choroid behind and the iris in front. It holds the lens by the suspensory ligament and its muscle focuses the eye.

Key points

• Middle coat: choroid + ciliary body + iris.
• Ciliary muscle (CN III parasympathetic) → accommodation.
• Ciliary processes make aqueous humour.
• Ciliary body: choroid mesoderm + two optic-cup layers.
• Ciliary muscle: mesoderm.
• Ciliary processes make aqueous humour.
• Ciliary muscle contracts → lens rounds → near vision.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Action · Nerve supply · Histology · Development

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1596–1597, 1600–1601
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 19, PDF pp. 355–356
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 21, PDF pp. 381–382

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• Common tendinous ring
• Cornea
• Corniculate and cuneiform cartilages
• Corpus callosum
• Corpus striatum
• Cricoid cartilage
• Cricothyroid
• Deep cervical lymph nodes
• Digastric
• Dura mater
• Dural venous sinuses

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