Development of the human tensor veli palatini: specimens measuring 13.6-137 mm greatest length; weeks 6-16 of development

The present study seeks to determine the main events that occur in the development of the tensor veli palatini (TVP). A light microscope was used on serial sections of 60 human specimens from weeks 6 to 16 of development. The TVP becomes visible in an embryo of 14.5 mm greatest length (GL; week 6) from a common blastema with the medial pterygoid muscle. In embryos of Carnegie stage 20 (week 7), the TVP is differentiated and relates to the anlage of the pterygoid hamulus. At week 8 of development, when the palatal shelves become horizontal, the presence of the anlage of the palatine aponeurosisis distinguished and is reached by the TPV. In an embryo of 30 mm GL, the chondrification nucleus of the pterygoid hamulus and the synovial bursa of the TVP are identifiable. At week 9, the TVP is continuous with the palatine aponeurosis. At week 13, a connective tissue lamina appears between the TVP and the intramembranous ossification center for the anterior process of the malleus, which we know as the goniale and interpret as an attachment of the muscle to the primary vertebrate jaw or incudomalleal joint. The TVP from its origin, innervation and relation to the goniale appears to be a muscle of mastication that, at the end of the embryonic period, reaches the palatine aponeurosis anlage and the mesenchyme of the auditory tube and specializes in the movements of the soft palate and the auditory tube.