For example, "anterolateral" indicates a position that is both anterior and lateral to the body axis (such as the bulk of the There is no definite limit to the contexts in which terms may be modified to qualify each other in such combinations. To describe how close to the head of an animal something is, three distinct terms are used: So while "up" might refer to the direction of a standing human's head, the same term ("up") might be used to refer to the direction of the belly of a While it would be possible to introduce a system of axes that is completely consistent between humans and other vertebrates by having two separate pairs of axes, one used exclusively for the head (e.g., anterior/posterior and inferior/superior) and the other exclusively for the torso (e.g., dorsal/ventral and caudal/rostral, or "toward the tail"/"toward the beak"), doing so would require the renaming of many anatomical structures.
However, both anterior and posterior are relative terms. For example, especially in organisms without distinct heads for reasons of broader applicability, "anterior" is usually preferred.The terms of zootomy and anatomy came into use at a time when all scientific communication took place in Latin.
Generally the modifier term is truncated and an "o" or an "i" is added in prefixing it to the qualified term.
In organisms that maintain a constant shape and have one dimension longer than the other, at least two directional terms can be used.
Apart from the fact that in some species one or more pairs may be missing, sometimes eyes from the posterior and anterior rows may be very close to each other, or even fused. A point can be anterior to another point behind it yet posterior to a point ahead of it Therefore it is important to consider the relativity of two or more anatomical positions when using the words anterior and posterior.Similar with the term ‘anterior’, posterior may refer to the back leg or tail of an animal. These terms are not used to form the fixed axes. They are part of the Circle of Willis , which provides backup circulation to the brain. The anterior and posterior cerebral circulations are interconnected via bilateral posterior communicating arteries. Anterior and posterior repair are minimally invasive procedures used to correct pelvic organs that have dropped out of their normal positions. "Lateral", "dorsal", and "ventral" have no meaning in such organisms, and all can be replaced by the generic term Two specialized terms are useful in describing views of Because of the unusual nature and positions of the eyes of the In what is seen as the likeliest ancestral arrangement of the eyes of the Araneae, there are two roughly parallel, horizontal, symmetrical, transverse rows of eyes, each containing two symmetrically placed pairs, respectively called: anterior and posterior lateral eyes (ALE) and (PLE); and anterior and posterior median eyes (AME) and (PME). However, both anterior and posterior are relative terms. Standard anatomical terms of location deal unambiguously with the anatomy of animals, including humans. In some species the curve is so gross that the eyes apparently are arranged into two anteroposterior parallel rows of eyes. However, the body has been postulated to act as a bridge or integrator of anterior and posterior mechanisms (Bast et al., 2009). Anterior is the anatomical term for indicating that an organ or structure is towards the front of the body. Terms include:
Therefore the word dorsal or ventral is used.It is important to be familiar with other terms use to indicate position in anatomy.It can be confusing when use in conjunction with anterior or posterior. These terms are generally preferred in veterinary medicine and not used as often in human medicine.The location of anatomical structures can also be described with relation to different Structures may be described as being at the level of a specific Special terms are used to describe the mouth and teeth.Several anatomical terms are particular to the hands and feet.These terms are used to avoid confusion when describing the median surface of the hand and what is the "anterior" or "posterior" surface – "anterior" can be used to describe the Similarly, in the forearm, for clarity, the sides are named after the bones. When the tissues that support the pelvic organs become weak, stretched or damaged, due to age or childbirth for example, the organs can slip out of place, dropping down and pressing against the walls of the vagina. The Unlike vertebrates, cnidarians have no other distinctive axes. Aspects of spider anatomy; This aspect shows the mainly prolateral surface of the anterior femora, plus the typical horizontal eye pattern of the Standard terms for unambiguous description of relative placement of body parts"Proximal" and "distal" redirect here. Structures closer to the Most terms of anatomical location are relative to linear motion (Several other terms are also used to describe location. For the linguistic terms, see Hickman, C. P., Jr., Roberts, L. S. and Larson, A. In the picture above, which shows the front or anterior aspect of the human body, the back of posterior aspect would show the back of the neck, spinal column, buttocks and so on.It is sometimes difficult to use the anterior and posterior for parts of the body that can twist, like the forearms and hands. In their original Latin forms the respective meanings of "anterior" and "posterior" are Humans, however, have the rare property of having an upright torso.
Also, either one row or both might be so grossly curved that some of the notionally anterior eyes actually may lie posterior to some of the eyes in the posterior row.