Septal nasal cartilage at a glance
- What it is
- The septal nasal cartilage is the cartilage that forms the front part of the nasal septum.
- Location
- It lies in the midline between the nostrils, joining the perpendicular plate of the ethmoid and vomer behind.
- Function
- It supports the nose and divides the nasal cavity into right and left sides.
- Body system
- Respiratory · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA59503 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Together with the vomer and ethmoid it forms the septum.
- Its cells depend on the overlying perichondrium for nutrients.
Clinical relevance
A deviated septum can cause nasal obstruction. A septal haematoma after a nose injury must be drained quickly, or the cartilage can die and the bridge collapse (saddle nose).
Structures next to the septal nasal cartilage
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Lateral nasal cartilage · respiratory
- Major alar cartilage · respiratory
- Nasal bone · skeletal
- Lacrimal sac · eye & ear
- Upper central secondary incisor tooth · digestive
- Nasolacrimal duct · eye & ear
- Lacrimal canaliculus · eye & ear
- Upper lateral secondary incisor tooth · digestive
- Infratrochlear nerve · nervous
- Upper secondary canine tooth · digestive
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Septal nasal cartilage (FMA59503). 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.
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.