Haustra
| Haustra | |
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| Arteries of cecum and vermiform process. | |
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| Latin | haustra coli |
The haustra (singular haustrum) of the colon are the small pouches caused by sacculation, which give the colon its segmented appearance. The taenia coli runs the length of the large intestine. Because the taenia coli is shorter than the intestine, the colon becomes sacculated between the taenia, forming the haustra.
Haustral contractions are slow segmenting movements that occur every 25 minutes. One haustrum distends as it fills, which stimulates muscles to contract, pushing the contents to the next haustrum.
There is a wider distance between haustra than between the circular folds of the small intestine, and the haustra doesn't reach around the entire circumference of the intestine, in contrast to circular folds of the small intestine that do. These differences can assist in distinguishing the small intestine from the colon on an abdominal x-ray.
Loss of haustra is a sign of chronic ulcerative colitis.[1]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- SUNY Labs 39:13-0301 - "Intestines and Pancreas: Large Intestine"
- haustrum at eMedicine Dictionary
- Roche Lexicon - illustrated navigator, at Elsevier 04967.000-2
- Radiology at anatrad.com
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 As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.
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