Structure of the stomach

Watch videos

The stomach is a hollow muscular organ positioned between the esophagus and duodenum. It has a characteristic J-shape created by two unequal curvatures (greater and lesser curvatures). The four main anatomical parts include the cardia, fundus, body, and pyloric part. Similar to the other parts of the gastrointestinal tract, the stomach also comprises four histological layers. From interior to exterior, these layers include the mucosa, submucosa, muscular coat and serosa. The muscular coat is further divided into three separate layers: oblique, circular and longitudinal layers. The main function of the stomach involves the mechanical and chemical digestion of ingested food.

This video tutorial will provide you with an overview of the structure and function of the stomach.

Take a quiz

Now that you have watched the videos about the structure of the stomach, test your acquired knowledge with our quiz. Identify the structures in the video with the identification questions, or really get stuck in with our exam questions.

Do you have more knowledge about the stomach that we didn't cover in the previous quiz? No worries, we got you covered. Take our custom quiz about the abdominal cavity and choose topics or individual terms that you want to be tested on.

Browse atlas

Explore the parts of the stomach one by one in this atlas gallery.

Summary