medulla oblongata

Organ component of neuraxis that has as its parts the medullary reticular formation, inferior olivary complex and cochlear nuclear complex, among other structures[FMA]. The medulla oblongata lies directly above the spinal cord and controls vital autonomic functions such as digestion, breathing and the control of heart rate[GO]. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the medulla oblongata is

Organ component of neuraxis that has as its parts the medullary reticular formation, inferior olivary complex and cochlear nuclear complex, among other structures[FMA]. The medulla oblongata lies directly above the spinal cord and controls vital autonomic functions such as digestion, breathing and the control of heart rate[GO]. The atlas records it as a organ at the organ scale in the human body.

Where the medulla oblongata is

It sits within the nervous system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What the medulla oblongata connects to

The atlas records 69 typed relationships for it, across 5 kinds of connection. part of brainstem and hindbrain.

Supply and innervation

This dataset asserts no arterial supply, venous drainage or innervation for the medulla oblongata. Only a minority of structures carry those edges here, so an empty answer means nothing has been recorded — not that there is nothing to record.

Also called

Also recorded as bulb, medulla, bulbus, medulla oblonzata and metepencephalon. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0001896, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

• Part of: brainstem and hindbrain.
• A kind of: anatomical structure, organ part and segmental subdivision of hindbrain.
• contains: accessory cuneate nucleus, accessory nerve fiber bundle, accessory XI nerve nucleus, anterior spinocerebellar tract, arcuate nucleus of medulla and area postrema, and 54 more.
• overlaps: medulla reticulospinal tract, tectospinal tract and vestibulospinal tract.
• transports: foramen magnum.

Questions

Where is the medulla oblongata?

It sits within the nervous system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What does the medulla oblongata connect to?

Part of: brainstem and hindbrain.

Is the medulla oblongata the same in other species?

Leumas holds the same relationship vocabulary for every species it carries, so where another dataset records this structure you can put the two side by side on /compare.