The subserosa or tela subserosa, is a thin layer of tissue in the walls of various organs. It is a layer of

connective tissue Connective tissue is one of the four primary types of animal tissue, a group of cells that are similar in structure, along with epithelial tissue, muscle tissue, and nervous tissue. It develops mostly from the mesenchyme, derived from the mesod ...

(usually of the areolar type) between the

muscular layer 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 ...

(muscularis externa) and the serosa (

serous membrane The serous membrane (or serosa) is a smooth epithelial membrane of mesothelium lining the contents and inner walls of body cavity, body cavities, which secrete serous fluid to allow lubricated sliding (motion), sliding movements between opposing ...

). The subserosa has clinical importance particularly in cancer staging (for example, in staging

stomach cancer Stomach cancer, also known as gastric cancer, is a malignant tumor of the stomach. It is a cancer that develops in the Gastric mucosa, lining of the stomach. Most cases of stomach cancers are gastric carcinomas, which can be divided into a numb ...

ACS :: How Is Stomach Cancer Staged?
/ref> or uterine cancer). The subserosa ('' sub-'' + ''serosa'') is to a serous membrane what the

submucosa The submucosa (or tela submucosa) is a thin layer of tissue in various organs of the gastrointestinal, respiratory, and genitourinary tracts. It is the layer of dense irregular connective tissue that supports the mucosa (mucous membrane) an ...

('' sub-'' + ''mucosa'') is to a

mucous membrane A mucous membrane or mucosa is a membrane that lines various cavities in the body of an organism and covers the surface of internal organs. It consists of one or more layers of epithelial cells overlying a layer of loose connective tissue. It ...

References

External links

* - "Female Reproductive System: oviduct; infundibulum"
Histology at uio.no

Diagram at uniklinik-saarland.de
Membrane biology {{Digestive-stub