Panniculus carnosus

The panniculus carnosus is part of the subcutaneoustissue. It consists of sheets of flat muscle contained in the panniculus adiposus. The general arrangement is that one end of the muscle sheet is attached to skin's dermisand the other is attached to deep fasciaor bone. It therefore moves, wrinkles or dimples the skin.

Its degree of development varies in different animals. In domestic quadripeds such as horses and cattle it is evenly distributed over the body wall, and can be seen in action when these animals twitch their skin to discourage flying insects.

In humans, the panniculus carnosus is highly developed and specialised, primarily to form muscles of the scalpand face. It is also present in other areas of the body wall.

Muscles of the panniculus carnosus

• Scalp:
  • occiptalis
  • frontalis(also a muscle of the face)
• Face:
  • orbicularis oculi
  • levator palpebrae superioris
  • compressor naris
  • dilator naris
  • orbicularis oris
  • modiolus
  • levator labii superioris alaeque nasi
  • levator labii superioris
  • levator anguli oris
  • zygomaticus minorand zygomaticus major
  • risorius
  • depressor anguli oris
  • depressor labii inferioris
  • mentalis
  • platysma
• Hand:
  • palmaris brevis
• Chest:
  • Subareolar muscle of the nipple
• Anogenital region:
  • corrigator cutis ani
  • dartos muscleof the scrotumand labia majora

See also:

panniculus adiposus

References

McMinn, RMH (Ed) (1994) Last's Anatomy: Regional and applied (9th Ed). London: Churchill Livingstone. ISBN 0-443-04662X

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panniculus+carnosus Wikipedia article Panniculus carnosus.