| cloaca | 1. <zoology> A common passage for faecal, urinary and reproductive discharge in most lower vertebrates. 2. <embryology> The terminal end of the hindgut before division into rectum, bladder and genital primordia. 3. <pathology> An opening in the involucrum of a necrosed bone. (18 Nov 1997) |
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| cloacal | Pertaining to the cloaca. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cloacal exstrophy | Congenital anomaly with two exstrophied bladder units separated by an exstrophied segment of intestine, which is usually caecum, receiving ileum superiorly and continuing distally to blend microcolon. A number of variants of anatomic disarray can occur. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cloacal membrane | A transitory membrane in the caudal area of the ventral wall of the embryo, separating the endodermal from the ectodermal cloaca; it is divided into anal and genitourinary membrane's that break down during the eighth to ninth week to establish the external opening for the alimentary and genitourinary tracts. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cloacal plate | A plate, composed of a layer of cloacal endoderm in contact with a layer of proctodeal ectoderm, which subsequently ruptures, forming the anal and urogenital openings of the embryo. (05 Mar 2000) |
| cloacal theory | The belief sometimes held by neurotic adults or children that a child is born, as a stool is passed, from a common opening. (05 Mar 2000) |
| persistent cloaca | A condition in which the urorectal fold has failed to divide the cloaca of the embryo into rectal and urogenital portions. Synonym: sinus urogenitalis, urogenital sinus. (05 Mar 2000) |
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| ectodermal cloaca | The proctodeum of the embryo. (05 Mar 2000) |
| endodermal cloaca | Terminal portion of the hindgut internal to the cloacal membrane of the embryo. (05 Mar 2000) |
| exstrophy of the cloaca | A developmental anomaly in which an area of intestinal mucosa is interposed between two separate areas of the urinary bladder. Synonym: ectopia cloacae. (05 Mar 2000) |