Dominic Stone
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat that is composed of several muscles that enable it to move freely and perform complex movements. The genioglossus muscle, which is attached to the tongue and the mandible, is responsible for protruding the tongue out of the mouth. The styloglossus muscle, on the other hand, raises the tongue and withdraws it back into the mouth. These muscles, along with others, help with speaking, swallowing, and moving substances around in the mouth.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Muscle that sticks the tongue out | Genioglossus |
| Other extrinsic muscles | Styloglossus, Hyoglossus |
| Intrinsic muscles | Allow the tongue to change shape and size |
| Other functions | Speaking, swallowing, sucking, tasting, sensory organ, body language |
| Blood supply | Lingual artery, dorsal lingual artery |
| Venous drainage | Lingual vein |
| Lymphatic drainage | Anterior two-thirds: submental and submandibular nodes; posterior third: deep cervical lymph nodes |
| Nerve | Hypoglossal nerve (CN XII) |
| Tongue-tie | Can restrict movement of the tongue |
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What You'll Learn
The genioglossus muscle pushes the tongue out
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat, and the only muscle in the body that is not attached at both ends. The genioglossus muscle is one of the extrinsic muscles that bind the tongue to structures outside of the tongue. It is innervated by the hypoglossal nerve (CN XII), which is responsible for tongue movement and starts at the base of the brain, travelling down the neck and ending at the base and underside of the tongue.
The genioglossus muscle raises the floor of the mouth, helping to push the tongue out. It allows you to press your tongue into the bottom of your mouth and stick it out. The left and right genioglossus muscles work together to protrude the tongue directly forward and depress the centre of the tongue at its back. When one side contracts, and the other side relaxes or contracts to a lesser extent, the tongue points to the side of the contracting muscle.
The tongue is a highly movable group of muscles, with a high degree of flexibility, allowing for complex movements. It is also a sensory organ responsible for tasting and is the most sensitive to touch. The tongue is essential for speaking, and its movement is partly produced by manipulating it in the mouth against the teeth and palate. The intrinsic muscles of the tongue are involved in changing its shape, which is necessary for speech.
The genioglossus muscle also plays a role in preventing airway obstruction. Contraction of the muscle stabilises and enlarges the portion of the upper airway that is most vulnerable to collapse. Relaxation of the genioglossus and geniohyoideus muscles during REM sleep can cause obstructive sleep apnea. Paralysis or total relaxation of the genioglossus muscle can result in the tongue falling back and blocking the airway, leading to a risk of suffocation.
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The styloglossus muscle withdraws the tongue
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat, with a wide range of motion. It is the only muscle in the body that is not attached at both ends, with one end free. This allows for a wide range of movement, with different muscles contracting and relaxing to produce different motions.
The styloglossus is an extrinsic muscle that inserts into the tongue, with its origin outside of it. It is a thin, stripe-shaped muscle that originates from the anterolateral aspect of the styloid process of the temporal bone and the nearby stylomandibular ligament. It passes through the oropharyngeal triangle to reach the tongue and insert into the posterolateral aspects.
The styloglossus muscle is responsible for retracting the tongue, drawing it upward and backward into the mouth. It also elevates the lateral aspects of the tongue, drawing up the sides to create a trough for swallowing. This muscle is innervated by the hypoglossal nerve (CN XII), which controls all tongue movement. The styloglossus is the shortest and smallest of the three styloid muscles.
The other extrinsic muscles that move the tongue are the genioglossus, hyoglossus, and palatoglossus. The genioglossus protrudes the tongue out of the mouth, while the hyoglossus depresses the tongue and acts with the chondroglossus to elevate the hyoid bone, aiding in phonation. The palatoglossus is associated with the tongue and the soft palate, originating from the palatine aponeurosis of the soft palate and inserting into the dorsum of the tongue.
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The tongue is a muscular hydrostat
The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It is composed of eight separate muscles that intertwine to create a flexible matrix, forming what is called a muscular hydrostat. This structure is similar to an octopus's tentacles or an elephant's trunk. The tongue is the only muscle in the body that is not attached at both ends, allowing for a wide range of motion.
The muscle fibres in a muscular hydrostat are oriented in three directions: parallel to the long axis, perpendicular to the long axis, and wrapped obliquely around the long axis. The muscles parallel to the long axis are arranged in longitudinal bundles, with a more peripheral distribution found in tetrapod tongues. This peripheral distribution allows for more elaborate bending movements. The muscles perpendicular to the long axis may be arranged in a transverse, circular, or radial pattern. A transverse arrangement involves sheets of muscle fibres running perpendicular to the long axis, usually alternating between horizontal and vertical orientations.
The bending of a muscular hydrostat is particularly important in animal tongues. This motion allows a snake to flick its tongue to sense its surroundings and is also responsible for the complexities of human speech. Elongation in hydrostats is caused by the contraction of transverse or helical musculature arrangements. Given the constant volume of muscular hydrostats, these contractions cause an elongation of the longitudinal muscles. The bending of a muscular hydrostat can occur in two ways, both of which require the use of antagonistic muscles.
The tongue moves food around the mouth with the help of the buccinator muscle, mixes it with saliva, and separates undesired particles. It also enables the formation of the food bolus during the oral preparatory phase of swallowing. The tongue also serves as a natural means of cleaning the teeth and is the primary organ of taste.
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The hypoglossal nerve controls tongue movement
The tongue is a muscular hydrostat and the only muscle in the body that is not attached at both ends. This unique structure gives the tongue a great range of motion. The tongue moves when different muscles contract while others relax.
The hypoglossal nerve, or cranial nerve 12, controls tongue movement. It is a motor nerve that carries signals to and from the brain to control muscle movement. The nerve starts at the base of the brain near the top of the spinal cord (brainstem) and travels down the neck, branching out and ending at the base and underside of the tongue. The hypoglossal nerve innervates all the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles of the tongue, except for the palatoglossus, which is innervated by the vagus nerve.
The hypoglossal nerve controls the hyoglossus, intrinsic, genioglossus, and styloglossus muscles. The genioglossus muscle pushes the tongue forward and out of the mouth. The styloglossus muscle raises the tongue and withdraws it back into the mouth. The hyoglossus muscle raises the tongue's sides and pulls it back and flattens it. The intrinsic muscles change the shape of the tongue, including curving and narrowing.
Damage to the hypoglossal nerve can cause paralysis of the tongue. When the nerve is damaged, the tongue deviates towards the damaged side when protruded due to the overaction of the strong genioglossus muscles. This damage can occur at the hypoglossal nucleus, above the hypoglossal nucleus (supranuclear), or be interrupted at the motor axons (infranuclear). Supranuclear lesions occur at the cerebral cortex, the corticobulbar tract of the internal capsule, cerebral peduncles, or the pons. These lesions cause the tongue to protrude away from the nerve due to predominant neural crossing for upper motor neurons. Infranuclear and nuclear lesions cause weakness of the tongue and ipsilateral atrophy.
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The tongue is a sensory organ
The tongue is a muscular organ in the mouth of a typical tetrapod. It is the primary organ of taste, housing numerous taste buds on its upper surface, or dorsum, which is covered in lingual papillae. These papillae are small bumps on the tongue formed by groups of cells bulging up from underneath the mucous membrane. They serve to anchor the mucous membrane to the tongue and also sense touch, allowing us to feel the form and texture of food in our mouths.
The mucous membrane covering the tongue contains many taste receptors to 'test' the things we eat and drink. These receptors are found in the taste buds, where the sensory cells are arranged like orange sections around a fluid-filled funnel. The chemical substances responsible for taste arrive here and are recognized by the sensory cells. Our sense of taste used to be vital to our survival as it was the only way to tell the difference between good food and poisonous or rotten food.
The tongue is also involved in the production of speech, facilitated by both the extrinsic muscles that move the tongue and the intrinsic muscles that change its shape. Different vowels are articulated by changing the tongue's height and retraction to alter the resonant properties of the vocal tract. The tongue is also used for crushing food against the hard palate during mastication and manipulating food for softening prior to swallowing.
The tongue is the only muscle in the body that is not attached at both ends, with only one attachment, allowing a great deal of freedom of movement. The genioglossus muscle, for example, allows us to stick our tongues out of our mouths. The tongue is also well-supplied with blood and has many nerves.
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Frequently asked questions
The genioglossus muscle raises the floor of the mouth, helping to push the tongue out. The styloglossus muscle withdraws the tongue back into the mouth.
These are extrinsic muscles that bind the tongue to structures outside of it.
The hyoglossus muscle raises the sides of the tongue. The palatoglossus muscle is another extrinsic muscle of the tongue.
Intrinsic muscles are those that are internal to the tongue. They allow the tongue to change shape and size and are essential for speaking.
