Pl. ansae [L.] a looplike structure.
- a. axillaris — a loop between the musculocutaneous nerve and the median nerve.
- a. cardiaca — a loop of muscle that passes around the dorsal margin of the cardia and forms the margins of the reticular groove in ruminants. It is an essential part of the closing of the cardia.
- a. cervicalis — a nerve loop attached to the hypoglossal nerve and to the first two or three cervical spinal nerves.
- a. coli — the loops of the colon including the distal, proximal and spiral loops.
- a. distalis — a loop of the colon of ruminants that succeeds the spiral colon.
- a. of Henle — Henle's loop.
- a. hypoglossi — ansa cervicalis.
- a. lenticularis — a loop of nerve fibers that connects the globus pallidus with parts of the thalamus and midbrain.
- a. nervorum spinalium — loops of spinal nerves joining the ventral spinal nerves.
- a. peduncularis — a complex grouping of nerve fibers connecting the amygdaloid nucleus, piriform area, and anterior hypothalamus, and various thalamic nuclei.
- a. proximalis — a loop of the colon of ruminants that precedes the spiral colon.
- a. sigmoidea — the s-shaped curve of the proximal duodenum as it passes over the visceral surface of the liver of the horse, ruminants and pig.
- a. spiralis — the double loop of colon made up of centripetal and centrifugal coils and a central flexure that run in a vertical plane in ruminants and in a snail-like coil in pigs.
- a. subclavia — the loop made by the cervical sympathetic trunk as it divides to pass on either side of the subclavian artery at the thoracic inlet.
