vomer

Information about vomer

Vomer labeled at left.
Bones and cartilages of septum of nose. Right side. (Vomer visible at bottom left.)
subject #43 170
MeSH Vomer
The vomer (from Latin vomer, -ĕris, "ploughshare") is one of the unpaired facial bones of the skull. It is located in the midsagittal line, and touches the sphenoid, the ethmoid, the left and right palatine bones, and the left and right maxillary bones.

Vomeronasal organ

The vomeronasal organ, also called Jacobson's organ, is a chemoreceptor organ named for its closeness to the vomer and nasal bones, and is particularly developed in animals such as cats (who adopt a characteristic pose called the Flehmen reaction or flehming when making use of it), and is thought to have to do with the perception of certain pheromones.

Anatomical details

The vomer is situated in the median plane, but its anterior portion is frequently bent to one or other side.

It is thin, somewhat quadrilateral in shape, and forms the hinder and lower part of the nasal septum; it has two surfaces and four borders.

The surfaces are marked by small furrows for blood vessels, and on each is the nasopalatine groove, which runs obliquely downward and forward, and lodges the nasopalatine nerve and vessels.

The superior border, the thickest, presents a deep furrow, bounded on either side by a horizontal projecting ala of bone; the furrow receives the rostrum of the sphenoid, while the margins of the alæ articulate with the vaginal processes of the medial pterygoid plates of the sphenoid behind, and with the sphenoidal processes of the palatine bones in front.

The inferior border articulates with the crest formed by the maxillæ and palatine bones.

The anterior border is the longest and slopes downward and forward. Its upper half is fused with the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid; its lower half is grooved for the inferior margin of the septal cartilage of the nose.

The posterior border is free, concave, and separates the choanae. It is thick and bifid above, thin below.

Articulations

The vomer articulates with six bones: It also articulates with the septal cartilage of the nose.

Trivia

By alternately thrusting with the tongue against the roof of the mouth and pressing with one of the fingers between the two eyebrows, one can articulate the vomer bone. This process, repeated for about 20 seconds, will cause the sinuses to discharge, thus rapidly clearing a stuffy head without the use of drugs.[1]

Additional images


Median wall of left nasal cavity showing vomer in situ.

The vomer.

Base of skull. Inferior surface.

The skull from the front.

Sagittal section of skull.


See also

External links

References

1. ^ [1]


This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.
 •  • [ e]
Bones of head and neck: the face
maxillaBody of maxilla - Maxillary sinus - surfaces of body Anterior (Incisive fossa, Canine fossa, Infraorbital foramen, Anterior nasal spine) - Infratemporal (Alveolar canals, Maxillary tuberosity) - Orbital (Infraorbital groove, Infraorbital canal) - Nasal (Pterygopalatine canal) - processes Zygomatic process - Frontal process (Agger nasi, Anterior lacrimal crest) - Alveolar process - Palatine process (Incisive foramen, Incisive canals, Foramina of Scarpa, Premaxilla, Anterior nasal spine)
lacrimalPosterior lacrimal crest - Lacrimal groove
zygomaticOrbital process, Zygomaticofacial foramen - Zygomaticotemporal foramen - Zygomaticorbital foramina
palatinePterygopalatine fossa - Pterygoid fossa - Horizontal plate (Posterior nasal spine) - Perpendicular plate (Pterygopalatine canal, Sphenopalatine foramen, Pyramidal process)
processes (Orbital - Sphenoidal)
mandiblebody (Symphysis menti, Mental protuberance, Mental foramen, Mylohyoid line) - Ramus (Mandibular foramen, Mylohyoid groove, Mandibular canal, Angle, Coronoid process, Condyloid process, Mandibular notch)
othersnasal bone - inferior nasal conchae (ethmoidal process, maxillary process) - vomer
Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) is a huge controlled vocabulary (or metadata system) for the purpose of indexing journal articles and books in the life sciences. Created and updated by the United States National Library of Medicine (NLM), it is used by the MEDLINE/PubMed
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Bones are rigid organs that form part of the endoskeleton of vertebrates. They function to move, support, and protect the various organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells and store minerals.
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skull is a bony structure found in many animals which serves as the general framework for the head. The skull supports the structures of the face and protects the head against injury.

The skull can be subdivided into two parts: the cranium and the mandible.
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The sphenoid bone (from Greek sphenoeides, "wedgelike") is a bone situated at the base of the skull in front of the temporals and basilar part of the occipital bone.

The sphenoid bone somewhat resembles a butterfly or bat with its wings extended.
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The ethmoid bone (from Greek ethmos, "sieve") is a bone in the skull that separates the nasal cavity from the brain. As such, it is located at the roof of the nose, between the two orbits. The cubical bone is lightweight due to a spongy construction.
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The palatine bone is a bone in the palate (Latin palatum; unrelated to palatium 'palace', from which other senses of palatine derive).

Anatomy

It is situated at the back part of the nasal cavity between the maxilla and the pterygoid process of the
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The maxilla (plural: maxillae) is a fusion of two bones along the palatal fissure that form the upper jaw. This is similar to the mandible, which is also a fusion of two halves at the mental symphysis.
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The vomeronasal organ (VNO) or Jacobson's organ[1] is an auxiliary olfactory sense organ in some tetrapods. It is the first processing stage of the accessory olfactory system. In adults, it is located in the vomer bone, between the nose and the mouth.
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A chemosensor, also known as chemoreceptor, is a cell or group of cells that transduce a chemical signal into an action potential. Or, more generally, a chemosensor detects certain chemical stimuli in the environment.
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The nasal bones are two small oblong bones, varying in size and form in different individuals; they are placed side by side at the middle and upper part of the face, and form, by their junction, "the bridge" of the nose.

Each has two surfaces and four borders.
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flehmen response, also called the flehmen position, flehmen reaction, flehming, or flehmening (from German flehmen, meaning to curl the upper lip), is a particular type of curling of the upper lip in ungulates, felids, and many other mammals,
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pheromone is a chemical that triggers a natural behavioral response in another member of the same species. There are alarm pheromones, food trail pheromones, sex pheromones, and many others that affect behavior or physiology.
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The blood vessels are part of the cardiovascular system and function to transport blood throughout the body. The most important types, arteries and veins, carry blood away from or towards the heart, respectively.
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Rostrum can mean one of several different things:
  • Rostrum (anatomy), an anatomical structure resembling a bird's beak, such as the snout of crocodiles and dolphins or the part of the carapace of a crustacean.

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The sphenoid bone (from Greek sphenoeides, "wedgelike") is a bone situated at the base of the skull in front of the temporals and basilar part of the occipital bone.

The sphenoid bone somewhat resembles a butterfly or bat with its wings extended.
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Pterygoid (from the Greek for 'winglike') can refer to:
  • a plate near the Vomer bone
  • a muscle such as Lateral pterygoid muscle or Medial pterygoid muscle
  • a branch of the Mandibular nerve

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The palatine bone is a bone in the palate (Latin palatum; unrelated to palatium 'palace', from which other senses of palatine derive).

Anatomy

It is situated at the back part of the nasal cavity between the maxilla and the pterygoid process of the
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Perpendicular plate can refer to:
  • Perpendicular plate of ethmoid bone
  • Perpendicular plate of palatine bone

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The ethmoid bone (from Greek ethmos, "sieve") is a bone in the skull that separates the nasal cavity from the brain. As such, it is located at the roof of the nose, between the two orbits. The cubical bone is lightweight due to a spongy construction.
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The cartilage of the septum (or septal cartilage, or quadrangular cartilage) is somewhat quadrilateral in form, thicker at its margins than at its center, and completes the separation between the nasal cavities in front.
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This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject.
Please help recruit one or [ improve this article] yourself. See the talk page for details.
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The ethmoid bone (from Greek ethmos, "sieve") is a bone in the skull that separates the nasal cavity from the brain. As such, it is located at the roof of the nose, between the two orbits. The cubical bone is lightweight due to a spongy construction.
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The maxilla (plural: maxillae) is a fusion of two bones along the palatal fissure that form the upper jaw. This is similar to the mandible, which is also a fusion of two halves at the mental symphysis.
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The palatine bone is a bone in the palate (Latin palatum; unrelated to palatium 'palace', from which other senses of palatine derive).

Anatomy

It is situated at the back part of the nasal cavity between the maxilla and the pterygoid process of the
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The nasal septum separates the left and right airways in the nose, dividing the two nostrils.

It is depressed by the Depressor septi nasi muscle.

Composition

The fleshy external end of the nasal septum is sometimes also called columella.
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Cartilage is a type of dense connective tissue. It is composed of collagen fibers and/or elastin fibers, and can supply smooth surfaces for the movement of articulating bones.
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nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which admit and expel air for respiration in conjunction with the mouth.

In most humans, it also houses the nosehairs, which catch airborne particles and prevent them from reaching the lungs.
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Paranasal sinuses are air-filled spaces, communicating with the nasal cavity, within the bones of the skull and face. Humans possess a number of paranasal sinuses, divided into subgroups that are named according to the bones within which the sinuses lie:

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At an early period the septum of the nose consists of a plate of cartilage, the ethmovomerine cartilage.

The postero-superior part of this cartilage is ossified to form the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid; its antero-inferior portion persists as the septal cartilage,
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In sciences dealing with the anatomy of animals, precise anatomical terms of location are necessary for a variety of reasons. Non-scientists often wonder why zoological and human anatomists use complex terminology to describe locations on a body, when common terms like "up",
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