What Does the Pharynx Do? An Anatomical Overview

 

What Does the Pharynx Do? An Anatomical Overview

 

Many medical professionals consider the pharynx to be one of the most important parts of the human body, but that’s only because they don’t know what it does! The pharynx can be found at the very back of your throat, and it connects your mouth with your esophagus. As you can see from this anatomical overview, the pharynx plays an important role in every stage of digestion, both before and after you swallow something. Keep reading to learn more about its functions and how it affects other systems in your body, or check out this infographic on how food moves through your body!

 

The pharynx is a muscular tube

The pharynx is an important organ in the body that is largely responsible for swallowing, breathing, and protecting the airways by preventing food or water from entering them. These functions of pharynx are essential to human life and are made possible through a variety of structures within the pharynx. This includes a set of muscles that form what we know as the upper esophageal sphincter and lower esophageal sphincter. The upper esophageal sphincter relaxes during the swallow cycle to allow food down the throat into the stomach. The lower esophageal sphincter prevents stomach acid from traveling back up into the throat and trachea while you’re sleeping at night. If these two mechanisms fail, the result can be potentially fatal! The final function of the pharynx is it's role as an airway protector. For example, the epiglottis closes over your laryngeal opening when you eat to prevent choking. The vocal cords also protect your lungs from being harmed by fluids going down your windpipe.

 

The pharynx is divided into three regions

The pharynx is an important anatomical structure that is involved in many different functions. The three regions of the pharynx are the oropharyngeal, the laryngopharyngeal and the esophageal. The oropharyngeal region includes everything from your oral cavity to your laryngophayngeal region while the esophageal region starts at your laryngophayngeal region and extends through your thoracic inlet and ends where it meets with the stomach or small intestine. The laryngophayngeal region starts at where you throat meets your epiglottis and extends down to where it meets with the trachea. The functions of the pharynx include -providing a passageway for food and water

-protecting the lungs by preventing foreign objects from entering them

-maintaining pH balance of the respiratory tract

-serving as a passageway for air when breathing

 

The function of the pharynx is to act as a passageway

The pharynx is a passageway that connects the nasal cavity and the larynx (or voice box) to the esophagus, which is the tube that carries food and liquid to the stomach. The pharynx has many important functions. It is one of two channels into which air enters when you breathe in. When you swallow, food passes down through your throat by way of your esophagus, which enters your stomach through an opening in your throat called the esophageal sphincter. The pharynx also helps to regulate pressure on both sides of it so that air can flow freely into and out of your lungs as well as food down into your stomach. The different structures of the pharynx are the oropharynx, the nasopharynx, and the laryngopharynx. The oropharynx is the area where the oral cavity meets the pharynx, or what we think of as the back of our throat. The nasopharynx is located above the roof of the mouth and is connected to the nose; this area aids with breathing. The laryngopharynx lies below the tongue and leads directly into the larynx where sound production takes place; this area aids with swallowing and sound production.

 

The pharynx also plays a role in speech production

The pharynx, or throat, is a tubular organ that runs from the base of the skull to the esophagus. It has three major functions: it serves as an air passage between nose and lungs; it houses the vocal cords for speech production; and it acts as a passageway for food and fluids from mouth to esophagus. The pharynx also plays a role in speech production by vibrating during sound production to produce different vowel sounds. The larynx sits at the top of the pharynx on either side of the trachea, which carries air. The vibrations created here are sent through the vocal folds below to make sound. If you are singing along with a song and suddenly stop singing, you will notice that your voice gets hoarse because your body’s muscles have been holding back the flow of saliva from your mouth when you were singing which dries out your vocal chords. The larynx protects these soft tissues by constricting muscles around the opening leading into the trachea during swallowing so there is less chance for food particles to get into the windpipe and be aspirated (breathed) into lung tissue which can lead to pneumonia. The eustachian tube connects the middle ear cavity to the upper part of the pharynx. When we swallow, this tube closes off to prevent fluid from leaking into the ear canal. The pharynx's function is also important in digestion: It helps create the right balance of digestive juices needed for breaking down food molecules like carbohydrates and proteins into usable substances that fuel our cells with energy-rich molecules like glucose and amino acids.

 

The pharynx is involved in swallowing

The pharynx is a tube-like organ that carries food and liquids from the mouth to the esophagus. The pharynx can be subdivided into three parts: the nasal pharynx, the oral pharyngeal cavity, and the laryngopharyngeal canal. The nasal pharynx is at the top and leads down to the oral cavity. It's lined with mucous membranes that secrete mucus as we swallow which helps moisten our food. The oral cavity is where we put our food in before it enters our esophagus. The oral cavity also contains the pharyngeal tonsils which produce antibodies against bacteria or viruses found in food or drink. The laryngopharyngeal canal is a muscular tube that connects the nasopharynx (top) to the oropharynx (bottom). The opening of the laryngopharyngeal canal is called the velopharyngeal port and separates the nasal cavities from the throat. The upper part of the velopharnygeal port closes tightly during swallowing to prevent air from entering the esophagus, but when drinking fluids it stays open so that liquid doesn't enter our lungs. The lower part of the velopharnygeal port opens and closes depending on what type of foods are eaten - for instance, if you're eating tough meat then the lower sphincter muscle will stay closed to keep the food out of the trachea. The muscles that close off the larynx have muscles on their walls called cricothyroid muscles. These contract together by pulling them taut and cause tension on both sides of the larynx. They need to relax before you're able to make a sound; otherwise, your voice would be high-pitched.

 

The pharynx is lined with mucous membranes

The pharynx is an organ in the throat that connects the nose and mouth to the larynx and esophagus. The pharynx has three main functions. The first function is to act as a channel between the respiratory system and digestive system. It acts as a passageway for food, liquid, and air to travel from the mouth to either the esophagus or nose. The second function of the pharynx is to protect some of our internal organs such as our larynx, thyroid gland, trachea, esophagus, tonsils, uvula, and epiglottis. The third function of this organ is that it produces mucus which helps moisten food going down your throat. The pharynx can also be divided into two regions: the nasopharyngeal region and the oropharyngeal region. The nasopharyngeal region contains the sinuses and passages of the ears, nose, and throat. The oropharyngeal region contains the tongue’s roots (called lingual tonsils) as well as other structures associated with taste and swallowing.

 

The pharyngeal tonsils are located in the posterior region of the pharynx

The pharyngeal tonsils are small structures located in the posterior region of the pharynx. They are a vital part of the immune system, as they play a role in identifying and defending against infections by either producing antibodies or by activating the body's killer cells. It is also through the tonsils that white blood cells can migrate from other regions of the body to fight infection near the throat area.

The main function of the pharyngeal tonsils is to produce antibodies, but they also have an important role in protecting against bacteria. The cells that make up these structures contain immune proteins called immunoglobulins (IgA) which are found throughout your body, and specifically on mucosal membranes like those found inside your nose, mouth and anus. These IgA proteins form the first line of defense for the respiratory tract. The most potent type, IgA1, has been shown to bind with several types of microorganisms in order to destroy them. If it cannot kill the microorganism itself, it will activate specific antibody-sensitive cells within the tissue around the tonsil (called Fc receptors). These Fc receptors cause substances released by the nearby leukocytes known as lymphokines to come into contact with all parts of the cell membrane and break down any surface glycoproteins where viral antigens may be hiding. Other types of IgA like the IgM class act similarly, though not as efficiently. In this way the pharyngeal tonsils are able to defend the airway against viruses and bacteria. The primary functions of the pharyngeal tonsils are to produce antibodies; however, their protective qualities extend beyond the immediate vicinity because some of these molecules enter systemic circulation when traveling in the bloodstream from their location in saliva glands near the back of the tongue. For example, approximately 80% of total serum immunoglobulin A comes from this general area.