Body of the sphenoid

Body of sphenoid bone
Figure 2: Sphenoid bone, anterior and inferior surfaces.
Figure 3: Sphenoid bone, upper and posterior surfaces.
Details
Identifiers
Latin	corpus ossis sphenoidalis
Dorlands /Elsevier	c_56/12260702
TA	A02.1.05.002
FMA	52867
Anatomical terms of bone []

The body of the sphenoid bone, more or less cubical in shape, is hollowed out in its interior to form two large cavities, the sphenoidal sinuses, which are separated from each other by a septum.

The superior surface of the body [Fig. 1] presents in front a prominent spine, the ethmoidal spine, for articulation with the cribriform plate of the ethmoid bone; behind this is a smooth surface slightly raised in the middle line, and grooved on either side for the olfactory lobes of the brain.

This surface is bounded behind by a ridge, which forms the anterior border of a narrow, transverse groove, the prechiasmatic groove, above and behind which lies the optic chiasma; the groove ends on either side in the optic foramen, which transmits the optic nerve and ophthalmic artery into the orbital cavity.

Behind the chiasmatic groove is an elevation, the tuberculum sellae; and behind this is a deep depression, the saddle-shaped sella turcica (Turkish seat), the deepest part of which, the hypophyseal fossa, lodges the pituitary gland.

The anterior boundary of the sella turcica is completed by two small eminences, one on either side, called the middle clinoid processes, while the posterior boundary is formed by a square-shaped plate of bone, the dorsum sellae, ending at its superior angles in two tubercles, the posterior clinoid processes, the size and form of which vary considerably in different individuals.