Septum

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See Ceuta#History for the city in Roman Mauretania.

In anatomy, a septum (Latin for something that encloses; plural septa) is a wall, dividing a cavity or structure into smaller ones.

Examples[edit | edit source]

In human anatomy[edit | edit source]

  • Interatrial septum, the wall of tissue that is a sectional part of the left and right atria of the heart
  • Interventricular septum, the wall separating the left and right ventricles of the heart
  • Lingual septum, a vertical layer of fibrous tissue that separates the halves of the tongue
  • Nasal septum: the cartilage wall separating the nostrils of the nose
Alveolar septa (AS)

Histological septa are seen throughout most tissues of the body, particularly where they are needed to stiffen soft cellular tissue, and they also provide planes of ingress for small blood vessels. Because the dense collagen fibres of a septum usually extend out into the softer adjacent tissues, microscopic fibrous septa are less clearly defined than the macroscopic types of septa listed above. In rare instances, a septum is a cross-wall. Thus it divides a structure into smaller parts.

In zoology[edit | edit source]

  • One of the radial calcareous plates of a coral. b. One of the transverse partitions dividing the shell of a mollusk, or of a rhizopod, into several chambers. c. One of the transverse partitions dividing the body cavity of an annelid.
  • Septum (marine biology): walls between each chamber, or siphuncle, in shells of nautiloids, ammonites, and belemnites; i.e. cephalopods that retain an external shell.

In mycology[edit | edit source]

  • A partition dividing filamentous hyphae into discrete cells in fungi

In botany[edit | edit source]

  • A partition that separates the locules of a fruit, anther, or sporangium.</translate>

Contributors: Prab R. Tumpati, MD