Although this muscle arises from the soft palate (see below), it is described as a longitudinal

muscle of the pharynx.

Origin

Within the soft palate, it is composed of two fasciculi, which arise from the upper surface of the
palatine aponeurosis in the same plane, but it is separated from each other by the levator veli
palatini. From the posterior border of the hard palate and the aponeurosis there is the thicker
anterior fasciculus where some fibers interdigitate across the midline. The thinner posterior
fasciculus is in contact with the mucosa of the pharyngeal aspect of the palate; it joins the
posterior band of its opposite muscle in the midline. The two layers unite at the postero-lateral
border of the soft palate; here they are also joined by fibers of the salpingopharyngeus. The
muscle passes laterally and downwards behind the tonsil, it then travels postero-medial and in
close contact to stylopharyngeus.

Insertion

It attaches with the stylopharyngeus muscle to the posterior border of the thyroid cartilage; some
fibers blend with the constrictor muscles. The upper fibers interdigitate with the opposite number,
to form ‘Passavant's ridge’.

Vasculature

The blood supply of this muscle is derived mainly from the pharyngeal branch of the ascending
pharyngeal artery and the tonsillar branch of the facial artery.

Nerve Supply

Pharyngeal branch of the vagus nerve (X cranial nerve) with its motor fibers from cranial
accessory nerve (XI cranial) supply this muscle.

Action

Elevates pharynx and larynx forwards and medially, thus shortening it while swallowing.
Passavant's muscle closes nasopharyngeal isthmus in swallowing.

Soft Palate

The soft palate is a mobile flap suspended from the posterior border of the hard palate. It slopes
down and back between the oral and nasal part of the pharynx where it hangs free. The sides
blend with the pharyngeal walls. It is a thick fold of mucosa enclosing an aponeurosis, muscular
tissue, vessels, nerves, lymphoid tissue and mucous glands. The tensor veli palatini, the levator
veli palatini, the palatoglossus, and the palatopharyngeus muscles alter the position and shape of
the fibrous aponeurosis of the soft palate. The musculature of the soft palate also includes the
musculus uvulae. The posterior aspect is convex and continuous with the nasal floor.

A median conical process, the uvula, projects downwards from the medial part of the posterior
border. The palatal arches are two curved folds of mucosa containing muscle, which descend
laterally from each side of the palate. The anterior of these, the palatoglossal arch, contains the
palatoglossus muscle, and descends on the side of the tongue at the junction of its oral and
pharyngeal parts, forming the lateral limits of the oropharyngeal isthmus. The posterior
palatopharyngeal arch contains the palatopharyngeus muscle, and descends on the lateral wall of
the oropharynx.

The greater palatine branch of the maxillary artery, the ascending palatine branch of the facial
artery and the palatine branch of the ascending pharyngeal artery are the arteries that supply the
soft palate. The veins that drain the soft palate are the pterygoid and tonsillar plexuses and the
lymph is drained into the deep cervical lymph nodes.

Nerve Supply

The greater and lesser palatine and nasopalatine branches of the maxillary nerves and the
glossopharyngeal nerve supply the sensory innervation. The lesser palatine nerve also contains
taste fibers of facial nerve origin, which supply the taste buds in the oral surface of the soft palate.
The parasympathetic postganglionic secretomotor fibers that arise from the facial nerve via the
pterygopalatine ganglion run with these nerves to the palatine mucous glands. Sympathetic fibers
run from the carotid plexus along the arterial branches.