Stomodeum
Human embryo about fifteen days old. Brain and heart represented from right side. Digestive tube and yolk sac in median section. (Stomodeum labeled in upper right.)
Gray's	subject #241 1101
Carnegie stage	9
Precursor	surface ectoderm

The stomodeum, also called stomatodeum, is a depression between the brain and the pericardium in an embryo, and is the precursor of the mouth and the anterior lobe of the pituitary gland.

Contents 1 Structure 2 Development 3 Etymology 4 Additional images 5 External links

[edit] Structure

The stomodeum is lined by ectoderm, and is separated from the anterior end of the fore-gut by the buccopharyngeal membrane.

This membrane is devoid of mesoderm, being formed by the apposition of the stomodeal ectoderm with the fore-gut endoderm; at the end of the third week it disappears, and thus a communication is established between the mouth and the future pharynx.

[edit] Development

The mouth is developed partly from the stomodeum, and partly from the floor of the anterior portion of the fore-gut.

By the growth of the head end of the embryo, and the formation of the cephalic flexure, the pericardial area and the buccopharyngeal membrane come to lie on the ventral surface of the embryo.

With the further expansion of the brain, and the forward bulging of the pericardium, the buccopharyngeal membrane is depressed between these two prominences. This depression constitutes the stomodeum.

No trace of the membrane is found in the adult; and the communication just mentioned must not be confused with the permanent isthmus faucium.

The lips, teeth, and gums are formed from the walls of the stomodeum, but the tongue is developed in the floor of the pharynx.

[edit] Etymology

From the Latin stomo- ("mouth or jaw") deum ("God") for "mouth of God", indicative of its large size in development.

Other sources suggest it is from the Greek stoma- and odaios, "a way"

[edit] Additional images

Embryo between eighteen and twenty-one days.

Under surface of the head of a human embryo about twenty-nine days old.

Head end of human embryo of about thirty to thirty-one days.

[edit] External links

• Diagram at lww.com
• hednk-015a — Embryology at UNC

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.

v • d • e Prenatal development/Mammalian development of digestive system (GA 11.1101) Gut Upper GI tract and accessory Stomodeum Foregut: upper GI (Buccopharyngeal membrane, Rathke's pouch, Tracheoesophageal septum) · accessory (Pancreatic bud, Hepatic diverticulum) Lower GI tract Midgut Hindgut: Urorectal septum Proctodeum Abdominopelvic Mesentery Dorsal mesentery · Ventral mesentery Thoracic diaphragm Septum transversum digestive system navs: anat of tract,glands,perit,diaphragm/physio/dev, noncongen/congen/congen of d+w/neoplasia, symptoms+signs/eponymous, proc

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