Cuneiform cartilage at a glance
- What it is
- The cuneiform cartilages are small rod-shaped cartilages in the aryepiglottic folds.
- Location
- They lie anterior to the corniculate cartilages within each aryepiglottic fold.
- Function
- They stiffen the aryepiglottic folds at the laryngeal inlet.
- Body system
- Respiratory · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA55118 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Made of elastic cartilage.
- They form small bumps called cuneiform tubercles.
- They are also called the cartilages of Wrisberg and may be absent.
Structures next to the cuneiform cartilage
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Thyro-arytenoid · muscular
- Corniculate cartilage · respiratory
- Thyroid cartilage · respiratory
- Arytenoid cartilage · respiratory
- Inferior pharyngeal constrictor · muscular
- Transverse arytenoid · muscular
- Oblique arytenoid · muscular
- Thyrohyoid · respiratory
- Vocalis · muscular
- Epiglottis · respiratory
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Cuneiform cartilage (FMA55118). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §22.1 Organs and Structures of the Respiratory System. Rice University, 2022.
- 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.