ABSTRACT
Anatomically, the stomach can be divided into three major regions: fundus
(the most proximal), corpus, and antrum. The regions close to the esophagus
and duodenum are called cardias and pylorus, respectively. The main function
of the stomach is to process and transport food. After feeding, the contractile
activity of the stomach helps to mix, grind, and eventually evacuate small
portions of chyme into the small bowel, while the rest of the chyme is mixed
and ground. The stomach wall, like the wall of most other parts of the
digestive canal, consists of three layers: the mucosal (the innermost), the
muscularis, and the serosal (the outermost). The mucosal layer itself can be
divided into three layers: the mucosa (the epithelial lining of the gastric cavity),
the muscularis mucosae, and the submucosal layer (consisting of connective
tissue interlaced with plexi of the enteric nervous system). The second gastric
layer, the muscularis, can also be divided into three layers: the longitudinal
(the most superficial), the circular, and the oblique.
