The stylopharyngeus is a muscle in the head that stretches between the temporal styloid process and the pharynx.
Structure
The stylopharyngeus is a long, slender muscle, cylindrical above, flattened below. It arises from the medial side of the base of the temporal styloid process, passes downward along the side of the pharynx between the superior pharyngeal constrictor and the middle pharyngeal constrictor, and spreads out beneath the mucous membrane.
Some of its fibers are lost in the constrictor muscles while others, joining the palatopharyngeus muscle, are inserted into the posterior border of the thyroid cartilage.
The glossopharyngeal nerve runs on the lateral side of this muscle, and crosses over it to reach the tongue.
Nerve supply
The stylopharyngeus is the only muscle in the pharynx innervated by the glossopharyngeal nerve (CN IX) via branchial motor neurons with their cell bodies in the rostral part of the nucleus ambiguus.
Development
Embryological origin is the third pharyngeal arch.
Function
The stylopharyngeus:
- elevates the larynx
- elevates the pharynx
- dilates the pharynx to permit the passage of a large food bolus, thereby facilitating swallowing
| This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Metasyntactic variable, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. |