Misplaced Pages

Contrahens

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.
(Redirected from Contrahentes)

The contrahentes (singular contrahens) are muscles widely present in the hands of mammals, including monkeys. They are on the palmar/plantar side. There is one each for digits I, II, IV and V, but not III. They pull the fingers/toes down and together.

Human anatomy

In humans, the adductor pollicis muscle in the hand and the adductor hallucis in the foot are well-developed remnants of the first contrahens, though they have lost the insertion on the distal phalanx of the thumb or big toe. The other contrahentes only appear as rare atavistic abnormalities. In other mammals, the contrahentes may have their origin either on the carpus or the metacarpus, which suggests that the palmar interossei muscles also contain elements of the contrahentes. They appear in the human fetus as a layer of flesh that mostly disappears.

In other animals

The contrahens of the fourth digit is absent in dogs but present in cats and rabbits.

In primates, the contrahentes vary in number between zero and four. By their insertion onto the proximal phalanges they facilitate convergence of the digits.

In tarsiers, they facilitate the grip by increasing the pressure between the large distal pads and the gripped surface by simultaneously flexing the metacarpophalangeal joints and the proximal interphalangeal joints and extending the distal interphalangeal joints.

Notes

  1. ^ Yamamoto, Murakami & Ohtsuka 1988
  2. Stark et al. 1979
  3. ^ Wright, Simons & Gursky 2003, p. 100

References

Muscles of the arm
Shoulder
fascia:
Arm
(compartments)
anterior
posterior
fascia
other
Forearm
(compartments)
anterior
superficial:
deep:
posterior
superficial:
deep:
fascia
other
Hand
lateral volar
medial volar
intermediate
fascia
posterior:
anterior:
Muscles of the hip and human leg
Iliac region
Buttocks
Lateral rotator group:
Thigh /
compartments
Anterior
Posterior
Medial
Fascia
Fascia lata
Leg/
compartments
Anterior
Posterior
Superficial
Deep
Lateral
Fascia
Intermuscular septa
Foot
Dorsal
Plantar
Fascia
Categories: