Tongue (Lingua) - Ox

TONGUE (LINGUA)

Ox

  • The tongue is situated on the floor of the mouth, between the rami of the mandible. It is highly protractile and is the chief organ of prehension. It consists of a root, a body and the tip.

Tongue

  • The root is the caudal part and it is attached to the hyoid bone, soft palate and pharynx. Only its upper surface is free and slopes downwards and backwards.
  • The body has three free surfaces. The upper face is rounded and the lateral faces are flattened. The inferior face is related to the lingual muscles.
  • Tip of the tongue is free and somewhat pointed. It presents upper and lower faces and a border.
  • The dorsum linguae are the dorsal surface of the tongue. It is free throughout and is in contact with the palate except at the glosso-epiglottic space. The caudal part of the dorsum presents a remarkable eminence, the torus linguae, which is sharply defined in front by a transverse depression. (Click to see the image)

Structure

    • Mucous membrane
    • Muscles and glands
    • Vessels and nerves
  • The mucous membrane is variably pigmented and is intimately adherent to the subjacent tissue except at the lower part of the lateral faces of the body and the ventral face of the tip
  • On the dorsum it is very thick and dense and on the sides it is thin
  • From the lower face of the free part of the tongue a fold of mucous membrane passes to the floor of the mouth - the fraenum linguae
  • Behind, a fold passes from each side of the edge of the dorsum to the soft palate -the cranial pillar of the soft palate
  • A thick central glosso-epiglottic fold passes from the root of the tongue to the base of the epiglottis and this fold contains the myo-epigloticus muscle
  • The surface of the mucous membrane presents various kinds of papillae. In front of the prominence are large horny papillae, which are conical and filiform, which impart to the tip especially its rasp -like roughness
  • The filiform papillae are fine, finger like projections on the dorsum and margin of the tip
  • The fungiform papillae are large, button like scattered over the dorsum
  • The free ends of these papillae are round and convex. Each papilla is supported by a neck and is attached to the mucous membrane by a short stalk
  • The circumvallate papillae are arranged in 2 rows, are large and circular. They are 10-16 in number on each side
  • They are sunk in deep depression bounded by annular wall
  • The papillae on the prominence are large, broad and some of which are blunt and conical and others rounded and flattened and are termed lenticular papillae
  • The fungiform and vallate papillae are furnished with taste buds
  • Lymphoid tissue is present in the caudal part of the dorsum on each side of the glosso-epiglottic fold forming lingual follicles
  • The lingual glands are present in the sub mucous tissue
  • The lingual muscles are well developed
Last modified: Friday, 20 April 2012, 9:18 AM