Canaliculus

In anatomy, a canaliculus is a small passageway.

Examples include:

• Two functionally different structures in bone:
  • Canaliculus (bone), a small channel found in ossified bone for nutrition
  • A small canal (anatomy) in bone which carries some structure (such as a nerve) through it
• Canaliculus (parietal cell), an adaptation found on gastric parietal cells
• The lacrimal canaliculi, several small ducts in the eye
• The dental canaliculi, the blood supply within a tooth
• Bile canaliculi, where the bile produced by the hepatocytes is drained
• Inferior tympanic canaliculus, the passage for the tympanic branch of the glossopharyngeal nerve and inferior tympanic artery
• Foramen petrosum (canaliculus innominatus), a small occasional opening in the greater wing of the sphenoid bone