Vomeronasal cartilage
Cartilago vomeronasalis
- Latin eponym: Cartilago Jacobsoni
- Eponym: Huschke's cartilage; Jacobson's cartilage
Definition
Immediately over the incisive canal at the lower edge of the cartilage of the septum lies a depression called the nasopalatine recess. In the septum close to this nasopalatine recess, a minute orifice may be discerned; it leads backward into a blind pouch, the rudimentary vomeronasal organ of Jacobson, which is supported by a strip of cartilage, the vomeronasal cartilage. This organ is well-developed in many of the lower animals, where it apparently plays a part in the sense of smell, since it is supplied by twigs of the olfactory nerve and lined by epithelium similar to that in the olfactory region of the nose.
References
This definition incorporates text from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy (20th U.S. edition of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, published in 1918 – from http://www.bartleby.com/107/).
