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Corniculate cartilage: anatomy, location and function

The corniculate cartilages are two small conical cartilages on the apex of each arytenoid cartilage. They support the aryepiglottic folds and help keep the laryngeal inlet open.

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Highlighted in the model: Corniculate cartilage. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Corniculate cartilage at a glance

What it is
The corniculate cartilages are two small conical cartilages on the apex of each arytenoid cartilage.
Location
They lie in the posterior part of the aryepiglottic folds, atop the arytenoid cartilages.
Function
They support the aryepiglottic folds and help keep the laryngeal inlet open.
Body system
Respiratory · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA55116 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • Made of elastic cartilage.
  • They are also called the cartilages of Santorini and form the corniculate tubercles at the back of the laryngeal inlet.

Structures next to the corniculate cartilage

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Corniculate cartilage (FMA55116). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §22.1 Organs and Structures of the Respiratory System. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.