3D Medical Animation still shot structure Lingual Artery

The lingual artery arises from the

external carotid artery The external carotid artery is a major artery of the head and neck. It arises from the common carotid artery when it splits into the external and internal carotid artery. External carotid artery supplies blood to the face and neck. Structure T ...

between the

superior thyroid artery The superior thyroid artery arises from the external carotid artery just below the level of the greater cornu of the hyoid bone and ends in the thyroid gland. Structure From its origin under the anterior border of the sternocleidomastoid the sup ...

and

facial artery The facial artery (external maxillary artery in older texts) is a branch of the external carotid artery that supplies structures of the superficial face. Structure The facial artery arises in the carotid triangle from the external carotid arte ...

. It can be located easily in the tongue.

Structure

The lingual artery first branches off from the external carotid artery. It runs obliquely upward and medially to the greater horns of the

hyoid bone The hyoid bone (lingual bone or tongue-bone) () is a horseshoe-shaped bone situated in the anterior midline of the neck between the chin and the thyroid cartilage. At rest, it lies between the base of the mandible and the third cervical vertebr ...

. It then curves downward and forward, forming a loop which is crossed by the hypoglossal nerve. It then passes beneath the digastric muscle and stylohyoid muscle running horizontally forward, beneath the hyoglossus. This takes it through the

sublingual space The sublingual space is a fascial space of the head and neck (sometimes also termed fascial spaces or tissue spaces). It is a potential space located below the mouth and above the mylohyoid muscle, and is part of the suprahyoid group of fascial sp ...

. Finally, ascending almost perpendicularly to the tongue, it turns forward on its lower surface as far as the tip of the tongue, now called the deep lingual artery (

profunda linguae The lingual artery arises from the external carotid, external carotid artery between the superior thyroid artery and facial artery. It can be located easily in the tongue. Structure The lingual artery first branches off from the external carotid ...

Branches

The lingual artery gives 4 main branches: the

deep lingual artery The lingual artery arises from the external carotid artery between the superior thyroid artery and facial artery. It can be located easily in the tongue. Structure The lingual artery first branches off from the external carotid artery. It runs ob ...

, the

sublingual artery The lingual artery arises from the external carotid artery between the superior thyroid artery and facial artery. It can be located easily in the tongue. Structure The lingual artery first branches off from the external carotid artery. It runs ob ...

, the suprahyoid branch, and the dorsal lingual branch.

Deep lingual artery

The deep lingual artery (or ranine artery) is the terminal portion of the lingual artery after the sublingual artery is given off. As seen in the picture, it travels superiorly in a tortuous course along the under (ventral) surface of the tongue, below the longitudinalis inferior, and above the mucous membrane. It lies on the lateral side of the genioglossus, the main large extrinsic tongue muscle, accompanied by the lingual nerve. However, as seen in the picture, the deep lingual artery passes inferior to the hyoglossus (the cut muscle on the bottom) while the lingual nerve (not pictured) passes superior to it (for a comparison, the hypoglossal nerve, pictured, passes superior to the hyoglossus). At the tip of the tongue, it is said to anastomose with the artery of the opposite side, but this is denied by

Hyrtl Josef Hyrtl (7 December 1810 – 17 July 1894) was an Austrian anatomist. Biography Hyrtl was born at Kismarton, Hungary (now Eisenstadt, Austria). He began his medical studies in Vienna in 1831, having received his preliminary education in h ...

. In the mouth, these vessels are placed one on either side of the

frenulum linguæ The frenulum of tongue or tongue web (also lingual frenulum or frenulum linguæ; also fraenulum) is a small fold of mucous membrane extending from the floor of the mouth to the midline of the underside of the tongue. Development The tongue start ...

Sublingual artery

The sublingual artery arises at the anterior margin of the hyoglossus, and runs forward between the genioglossus and mylohyoid muscle to the

sublingual gland The paired sublingual glands are major salivary glands in the mouth. They are the smallest, most diffuse, and the only unencapsulated major salivary glands. They provide only 3-5% of the total salivary volume. There are also two other types of sal ...

. It supplies the gland and gives branches to the mylohyoideus and neighboring muscles, and to the mucous membrane of the

mouth In animal anatomy, the mouth, also known as the oral cavity, or in Latin cavum oris, is the opening through which many animals take in food and issue vocal sounds. It is also the cavity lying at the upper end of the alimentary canal, bounded on ...

and gums. One branch runs behind the

alveolar process The alveolar process () or alveolar bone is the thickened ridge of bone that contains the tooth sockets on the jaw bones (in humans, the maxilla and the mandible). The structures are covered by gums as part of the oral cavity. The synonymous ter ...

of the mandible in the substance of the gum to anastomose with a similar artery from the other side; another pierces the mylohyoideus and anastomoses with the submental branch of the

Other branches

# The suprahyoid branch of the lingual artery runs along the upper border of the

, supplying

oxygenated blood Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood in the ci ...

to the muscles attached to it and joining ( anastomosing) with its fellow of the opposite side. # The dorsal lingual branches of lingual artery consist usually of two or three small branches which arise beneath the hyoglossus . They ascend medially to the back part of the dorsum of the tongue . They supply the mucous membranes, the

glossopalatine arch The palatoglossal arch (glossopalatine arch, anterior pillar of fauces) on either side runs downward, Lateral (anatomy), lateral (to the side), and forward to the side of the Posterior tongue, base of the tongue, and is formed by the projection of ...

, the tonsil, soft palate, and epiglottis; anastomosing with the vessels of the opposite side.

Function

The lingual artery supplies the tongue. It also supplies the

palatine tonsils Palatine tonsils, commonly called the tonsils and occasionally called the faucial tonsils, are tonsils located on the left and right sides at the back of the throat, which can often be seen as flesh-colored, pinkish lumps. Tonsils only present as ...

Additional images

File:Slide3fff.JPG, Lingual artery File:Slide9hhh.JPG, Lingual artery

References

External links

* *
Branches
at University of Oklahoma {{Authority control Arteries of the head and neck Pharynx