Introduction
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The flap that covers the trachea during swallowing so that food does not enter the lungs.
Anatomy of the larynx. The three parts of the larynx are the supraglottis (including the epiglottis), the glottis (including the vocal cords), and the subglottis.
The epiglottis is a cartilaginous structure at the posterior of the tongue that folds over the opening of the trachea during swallowing.
- - faces the tongue.
- - faces the opening of the trachea.
- - initially covers the posterior surface.
- - abrupt transition from stratified squamous non-keratinizing epithelium to pseudostratified epithelium with cilia and goblet cells.
- - pseudostratified epithelium with cilia and goblet cells.
- - dense irregular connective tissue that supports the epithelium.
- Sero-Mucous Glands ( and ) - add moisture to air and help trap contaminants.
- Ducts ( and ) - the latter duct is a rare example of a stratified columnar epithelium.
- Elastic Cartilage (, , and ))- a series of elastic cartilages provide semi-rigid support to the epiglottis.
See MH 038 Epiglottis (Chapter 5 - Cartilage and Bone) for more information on the structure of elastic cartilage.