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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The muscular layer (muscular coat, muscular fibers, muscularis propria, muscularis externa) is a region of muscle in many organs in the vertebrate body, adjacent to the submucosa. It is responsible for gut movement such as peristalsis. The Latin, tunica muscularis, may also be used.
Muscular layer | |
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Details | |
Identifiers | |
Latin | tunica muscularis |
TA98 | A05.4.01.010 A05.5.01.021 A05.6.01.004 A05.7.01.004 A05.7.03.011 A05.7.04.009 A05.8.02.008 A08.1.05.010 A08.2.01.006 A08.3.01.010 A09.1.02.012 A09.1.04.010 A09.2.03.007 A09.3.05.009 A09.4.02.011 A09.3.06.003 A09.4.02.018 A09.4.02.027 |
Anatomical terminology |
It usually has two layers of smooth muscle:
However, there are some exceptions to this pattern.
The inner layer of the muscularis externa forms a sphincter at two locations of the gastrointestinal tract:
In the colon, the fibres of the external longitudinal smooth muscle layer are collected into three longitudinal bands, the teniae coli.
The thickest muscularis layer is found in the stomach (triple layered) and thus maximum peristalsis occurs in the stomach. Thinnest muscularis layer in the alimentary canal is found in the rectum, where minimum peristalsis occurs.
The muscularis layer is responsible for the peristaltic movements and segmental contractions in and the alimentary canal. The Auerbach's nerve plexus (myenteric nerve plexus) is found between longitudinal and circular muscle layers, it starts muscle contractions to initiate peristalsis.
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