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Abdominal aorta: anatomy, location and function

The abdominal aorta is the part of the aorta that runs through the abdomen and supplies the abdominal organs, pelvis and lower limbs. It delivers oxygenated blood to the abdominal wall and viscera, and through the iliac arteries to the pelvis and lower limbs.

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Highlighted in the model: Abdominal aorta. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The model is an adult male.

Abdominal aorta at a glance

What it is
The abdominal aorta is the part of the aorta that runs through the abdomen and supplies the abdominal organs, pelvis and lower limbs.
Location
It begins at the aortic hiatus of the diaphragm at the level of T12 and descends in front of the vertebral bodies, slightly left of the midline. It ends at about L4 by dividing into the two common iliac arteries, and gives off the inferior phrenic, celiac, superior mesenteric, middle suprarenal, renal, gonadal, inferior mesenteric and lumbar arteries.
Function
It delivers oxygenated blood to the abdominal wall and viscera, and through the iliac arteries to the pelvis and lower limbs.
Body system
Cardiovascular · single, midline structure
FMA ID
FMA3789 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • Its three large unpaired visceral branches are the celiac trunk, superior mesenteric artery and inferior mesenteric artery.
  • A small median sacral artery arises from its back just above the bifurcation.

Clinical relevance

An abdominal aortic aneurysm is a dilation, most often below the renal arteries, that can rupture.

Structures next to the abdominal aorta

The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Abdominal aorta (FMA3789). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
  3. Mitsuhashi N. et al. (2009). BodyParts3D: 3D structure database for anatomical concepts. Nucleic Acids Research 37, D782–D785. Data © The Database Center for Life Science, CC BY 4.0.

Related anatomy

Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.