Hello and welcome again. Hope you have got an idea about What you Should learn Under the Course of Veterinary Gross Anatomy (if you didn’t get it, go through this link) and decided to learn gross veterinary anatomy properly. Today we are going to start our learning on gross veterinary anatomy. First, we need to know some terminology related to gross veterinary anatomy. Here, I am trying to simplify those terms that are necessary to know. Let’s start –
We will complete the following terms:
Different planes of the body
Common descriptive anatomical terms
Common terms related to osteology
I think it is better to know the animal body’s all-bones name (for now, only name) before starting terminology. We should also know the important visceral organs’ names from each organs system of the body. Though we will learn those topics later in detail, we need the basic ideas. Like –
List of forelimbs bone of animal body –
Scapula bone
Humerus bone
Radius and ulna bones
Carpal bones
Metacarpal bones
Phalanxes
Again in hind limbs, it contains the following bones –
Hip bone
Femur bone
Tibia and fibula bones
Tarsal bones
Metatarsal bones
Phalanxes
List of bone of axial skeleton –
Skull bones
Vertebra (cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacrum, coccygeal vertebra)
Ribs
Sternum
List of different organs from different systems of the animal body –
I am just providing some examples to understand better; you need to know all organs systematically. I will discuss this later.
Lung from the respiratory system
Heart from the cardiovascular system
Simple or parts of the compound stomach from the digestive system
Ovary from female genital system
Brain from nervous system etc
“Hope, you have a question; why you need to know those list or name. Okay, let me tell; Suppose, you are now learning the terminology Facet, it’s a small articular surface of any bone, if I provide an example that you will find this facet in thoracic vertebra; first you need to identify the thoracic vertebra and then you need to find out this facet in proper way.”
I think you are known to any animal. It has a front end, back end, dorsal surface, ventral surface, etc. We need to describe them in anatomical words.
There are different planes of an animal’s body. Let’s talk about it –
Longitudinal median plane:
Try to understand from this heading “Longitudinal median plane”. You will understand that this plane divided the animal body at the midline (if we consider the animal body). Thus you will be able to get two halves of the animal body where you will find all similar structures.
Paramedian plan:
Para-median means parallel to the median plane (Longitudinal median plane); this will divide the animal body into two halves, but not in equal halves. It’s also called the Sagittal plane.
Transverse plane:
When you make a cross-section of an animal body or a specific bone; this is called transverse plane
Horizontal plane:
You have just completed the paramedian plane and transverse plane. If you cut an animal body perpendicular to the paramedian or transverse plane, this plane is called the horizontal plane.
You may take help videos to understand better. (Hope I will add some videos soon.). But, if you find; that information is not enough to understand, then you may follow the class lecture or go through the books
Common descriptive terminology you should know:
If we consider an animal body –
Cranial: it’s the front portion. But it does not describe the anatomical term well. It is the portion towards the head end of the animal.
Caudal: back portion; not describe this term well. We usually use this term to describe animal structure towards the tail end.
Anterior: we will use this term for any bone, structure, or organ. It is the front portion of any bone, structure, or organ.
Posterior: we will also use this term for any bone, structure, or organ. It is the back-end portion of any bone, structure, organ.
Palmar and plantar surface: Those terms are used for the forelimb and hind limb of animals, respectively; (manus and pes). Simply palmar is the posterior surface of manus (forelimb – carpal, metacarpal, phalanges), and planter is the posterior surface of pes (hind limb – tarsal, metatarsal, and phalanges).
Dorsal surface: terms used to express the anterior surface of manus and pes
Proximal, distal, superior, inferior and related terms
Proximal and distal: Suppose you are learning about humerus bone. It has two ends; one expanded area above and below. This above or upper area is called proximal extremity, and the lower or below area is called a distal area.
Superior and inferior: You may use these terms for visceral organs. Superior means above, and inferior means below.
Superficial and deep: Superficial means very close to the surface; where deep means under the superficial structure
Axial surface and abaxial surface: a surface that is related to the central line of any structure (body, organ, bones); where abaxial means that surface that is away from the axis or axial surface
Lateral and medial surface: You already have known the longitudinal median plane. The surface close to this median plan is called medial surface, whereas the surface away from the median plan is called lateral surface.
You will find some other terms like the tubal end, contact surface, etc
Common terms related to osteological features:
You need those terms to describe the bone –
Suppose you are learning about the osteological features of the scapula. You will find structures like the spine, supraspinous fossa, infraspinous fossa, subscapular fossa, and the acromion process. So you need to know what are spine, fossa, and process. You will find similar terms in other bones or structures.
Spine: This is a pointed projection of any bone. If you observe scapula bone, you will find a slender projection on its lateral surface. This is called the spine of the scapula.
Fossa: It is a depression-like structure that is almost deep. Again in the scapula, you will find fossa on its medial or lateral surface (infraspinatus fossa, supraspinous fossa, subscapular fossa)
Process: It is a large projection. If you notice again in the scapula, you will find a larger pointed projection at its lateral surface at its distal end. This is called the acromion process
Example and terms (humerus)
Again, you are studying on the humerus. You found an expanded area on the proximal portion, a constricted area below the head, lateral tuberosity, deltoid tuberosity, musculo spiral groove, lateral and medial condyle, and lateral and medial epicondyles, teres tubercle, supratrochlear foramen, coronoid fossa. So, you need to know the terms like – head, neck, tuberosity, groove, condyle, epicondyle, foramen, and fossa
Head: It is an expanded round area at the proximal end of any bone. You will find a head in the humerus, Femur, and other bones.
Neck: it is the constricted part below the head.
Tuberosity: it is a large round projection. If you notice, you will find lateral large round projection at the proximal portion of the humerus bone
Tubercle: It is a small boney projection. If you notice, you will find a teres tubercle at the medial surface of the humerus bone
Groove: it is like an elongated depression of any bone. If you notice humerus at its lateral surface, you will find an elongated depression called a musculospiral groove.
Condyle: it is a paired articular surface. You will find (lateral and medial) paired articular surface at the humerus bone’s anterior portion (distal end).
Epicondyle: It is a small projection adjacent to the condyle
Foramen: perforation through any bone. If you study the humerus of a dog, you will find a perforation at its distal portion, which is called supratrochlear foramen.
Example and terms (Femur)
Again, you are studying Femur and found – fovea capitis, trochanteric ridge, trochlea, condyle, and other structures. So you need to know the following terms –
Fovea: It is an articular surface in the form of a very small pit. When studying Femur, you will find a small pit-like structure on the head of the humerus at its proximal end. It is called fovea capitis.
Trochlea: it is a pully-like groove structure (articular surface). You will find a groove at the distal end of the humerus (anterior portion) of the humerus.
Ridge: it is an elongated elevation of bone. You will find an elongated elevation at the lateral aspect at the proximal end of the Femur (trochanteric fossa)
Now, you are studying the thoracic vertebra and found those osteological features – cranial articular facet, costal facet, caudal articular facet, and different processes. So, you need to know the terms below –
Facet: It is a small articular facet.
If possible, I will update this information regularly.
Conclusion
I hope you have got an idea about the terminology that is important to know.
If you want to continue, you should go to the VETERINARY GROSS ANATOMY section and systematically learn gross veterinary anatomy. Or if you want to learn other subjects or topics, you may go TEACHING AND RESEARCH section.
If there is any mistake in the above information or if you have any suggestions for me, please, let me know in the comment box. Thank you so much.