Laryngotracheal groove

The laryngotracheal groove is a precursor for the larynx and trachea.

The rudiment of the respiratory organs appears as a median longitudinal groove in the ventral wall of the pharynx. The groove deepens and its lips fuse to form a septum which grows from below upward and converts the groove into a tube, the Laryngotracheal groove (or laryngo-tracheal tube), the cephalic end of which opens into the pharynx by a slit-like aperture formed by the persistent anterior part of the groove. The tube is lined by entoderm from which the epithelial lining of the respiratory tract is developed. The cephalic part of the tube becomes the larynx, and its next succeeding part the trachea, while from its caudal end two lateral outgrowths, the right and left lung buds, arise, and from them the bronchi and lungs are developed.