Terminology Service for NFDI4Health
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esophagus

Go to external page http://purl.obolibrary.org/obo/UBERON_0001043

Tube that connects the pharynx to the stomach. In mammals, the oesophagus connects the buccal cavity with the stomach. The stratified squamous non-keratinised epithelium lining the buccal cavity is continued through the pharynx down into the oesophagus. The lowest part of the oesophagus (ca. 2 cm) is lined with gastric mucosa and covered by peritoneum. The main body of the oesophagus is lined with small, simple mucous glands. Each gland opens into the lumen by a long duct which pierces the muscularis mucosae (Wilson and Washington, 1989). A sphincter is situated at the point where the oesophagus enters the stomach to prevent gastro-oesophageal reflux, i.e. to prevent acidic gastric contents from reaching stratified epithelia of the oesophagus, where they can cause inflammation and irritation (Wilson and Washington, 1989; Brown et al., 1993). [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esophagus http://www.rivm.nl/interspeciesinfo/inter/oesophagus/ ]

Term info

Label

esophagus

Synonyms
  • gullet
  • oesophagus
database cross reference
Subsets

uberon_slim, efo_slim, pheno_slim, vertebrate_core, organ_slim, major_organ

depicted by

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d4/Illu01_head_neck.jpg

external definition

Anterior end of the alimentary canal lined with smooth muscle. Bounded anteriorly by a constriction in the pharynx. Bounded posteriorly by and increase in circular and/or longitudinal smooth muscle associated with the stomach.[AAO]

external ontology notes

esophagus NOT part of gut in MA. part of gut in ZFA. part_of gut (via UGIT) in FMA. Consider splitting. Interspecies: The human oesophagus is 25 cm long and has a diameter of ca. 2 cm. Only little information was found on the oesophagus in rat, rabbit and pig. The oesophagus of rat (75 x 2 mm) and rabbit has no mucous glands and the cardia of the stomach has a well-developed sphincter, which prevents them from vomiting (Hebel and Stromberg, 1988; Manning et al., 1994). Morphologically the oesophagus is similar in man and pig; both are omnivores and have a non-keratinised epithelium, submucous glands and similar membrane enzymes. Like in humans, pigs can suffer from reflux oesophagitis and stress ulceration of the oesophagus. The pig oesophagus may therefore be a good model for investigation compared to the human oesophagus (Christie et al., 1995)

homology notes

The few structural specializations in (adult lampreys) pharynx include complex valves on the external gill openings that direct the tidal flow, and the division of the ancestral pharynx into an oesophagus and a respiratory pharynx.[well established][VHOG]

id

UBERON:0001043