Anatomy study note · Head and neck

Tongue

A mass of striated muscle covered with mucous membrane, divided by a median septum and by the V-shaped sulcus terminalis into an anterior two-thirds (oral) and posterior third (pharyngeal).

Key points

• Sulcus terminalis: anterior 2/3 vs posterior 1/3.
• Motor: XII (except palatoglossus, X).
• Anterior 2/3: V3 (lingual) + VII (taste). Posterior 1/3: IX.
• Tip lymph → submental nodes.
• Foramen caecum = thyroglossal duct origin.
• Anterior ⅔: 1st arch. Posterior ⅓: 3rd arch.
• Muscles: occipital myotomes (XII).
• Filiform: no taste buds. Circumvallate: taste buds + von Ebner glands.

The full note in the atlas also covers

Features · Blood supply · Nerve supply · Lymph drainage · Histology · Development · Clinical notes

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Written from

• Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 12, PDF pp. 1726–1735
• Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 12, PDF pp. 161, 169–172
• BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 16, PDF pp. 286–288

More from the head and neck

• Trigeminal nerve
• Trochlear nerve
• Veins of the face and scalp
• Ventricles of the brain
• Vertebral and basilar arteries
• Vestibulocochlear nerve
• Vitreous body
• Zygomatic bone
• Abducens nerve
• Accessory nerve
• Anterior cerebral artery
• Aqueous humour

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