@instituteofhumananatomy: Follow an inhaled fiber through your head and you'll hit a fork in the road. 🫁 This sagittal head dissection traces the path of anything you breathe in (asbestos, in this case — but it applies to any inhaled substance). Air enters the nasal cavity, divided left and right by the nasal septum, then moves back to the pharynx — a fancy name for the throat. Then comes the fork. Posteriorly sits the esophagus, the food tube. Some asbestos fibers get swallowed here — many just pass through the digestive tract and exit in the stool, though some can deposit in the tissue. But most fibers continue down the respiratory tract, past the larynx (voice box) and into the trachea (windpipe). Notice the esophagus is collapsed, but the trachea stays wide open — even on a cadaver. Those stacked cartilage rings are why. We don't care if the food tube collapses between meals, but the airway has to stay open 24/7, because you never stop breathing. 🔬 #TikTokLearningCampaign #respiratorysystem #anatomy #humanbody #cadaverlab #trachea #larynx #nasalcavity #pharynx #anatomyandphysiology #physiology #medstudent #airway #humananatomy #respiratoryanatomy #iohaanatomy Follow for more anatomical awesomeness

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Thursday 30 July 2026 16:00:00 GMT