Anterior interosseous artery at a glance
- What it is
- The anterior interosseous artery is a branch of the common interosseous artery that runs down the front of the forearm interosseous membrane.
- Location
- It arises from the common interosseous artery, descends on the anterior surface of the interosseous membrane with the anterior interosseous nerve, and pierces it above the pronator quadratus to reach the back of the wrist. It gives off the median artery and nutrient branches to the radius and ulna.
- Function
- It supplies the deep flexor muscles, the radius and ulna, and the dorsal carpal arch.
- Body system
- Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA22813 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It accompanies the anterior interosseous branch of the median nerve.
- It is the main supply of the deep flexor muscles and gives nutrient arteries to both forearm bones.
Structures next to the anterior interosseous artery
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Extensor carpi ulnaris · muscular
- Flexor carpi radialis · muscular
- Ulna · skeletal
- Radial vein · cardiovascular
- Radius · skeletal
- Ulnar vein · cardiovascular
- Ulnar artery · cardiovascular
- Median antebrachial vein · cardiovascular
- Extensor carpi radialis brevis · muscular
- Humeral head of flexor carpi ulnaris · muscular
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Anterior interosseous artery (FMA22813). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §20.1 Structure and Function of Blood Vessels. Rice University, 2022.
- 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.