Circular smooth muscle contributes to esophageal shortening during peristalsis

Figure 1 A photograph of a dissected cadaveric esophagus. The esophagus is cut longitudinally along the longitudinal muscle fibers after dissecting the serosa. The mucosa and sub mucosa were later dissected. The esophagus was later folded back so that the longitudinal fibers were on top of the circular muscle fibers. Measurements of the angle of the circular smooth muscle fibers with respect to the longitudinal smooth muscle fibers were made starting from the squamocolumnar junction.