INNERVATION OF THE SUBGLOTTIC MUCOSA OF THE LARYNX, AND ITS SIGNIFICANCE

This paper reports an anatomical and histological study of the innervation of the mucous membrane lining the subglottic region of the larynx in the cat. and considers its possible significance in the reflex control of the activity of the intrinsic laryngeal musculature in breathing and phonation. Microdissection studies show that different regions of the subglottic mucosa are innervated by afferent fibres (both myelinated and unmyelinated) that traverse the external laryngeal nerve and the antero-inferior branches of the recurrent laryngeal nerve. Ncurohistological studies show that the subglottic mucosa contains many globular and fewer conical corpuscular mechanoreceptors (most densely distributed on the inferior aspect of the vocal folds and in the meuosa lining the cricothyroid membrane), together with plexiform and free unmyelinated nerve endings (without regional differences in distribution) that may serve as a nociceptive and chemosensitive receptor system. Additional plexiform unmyelinated nerve terminals surrounding the submucous glands probably provide their sccrctomotor innervation. © 1979 S. Karger AG, Basel.