Central canal of spinal cord at a glance
- What it is
- The central canal is a narrow, CSF-filled channel running through the length of the spinal cord.
- Location
- It lies in the centre of the grey commissure of the spinal cord and is continuous above with the fourth ventricle.
- Function
- It is a remnant of the embryonic neural tube cavity and contains cerebrospinal fluid lined by ependymal cells.
- Body system
- Nervous · single, midline structure
- FMA ID
- FMA78497 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- Dilates at the conus medullaris as the terminal ventricle.
- Often partly obliterated in adults.
Clinical relevance
Abnormal dilation of the canal is called hydromyelia, and a fluid-filled cavity within the cord is a syrinx.
Structures next to the central canal of spinal cord
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- Atlas · skeletal
- Medulla oblongata · nervous
- Anterior spinal artery · cardiovascular
- Axis · skeletal
- Rectus capitis anterior · muscular
- Rectus capitis posterior major · muscular
- Rectus capitis posterior minor · muscular
- Obliquus capitis inferior · muscular
- Vertebral artery · cardiovascular
- Fourth ventricle · nervous
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: Central canal of spinal cord (FMA78497). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §12.1 Basic Structure and Function of the Nervous System. 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.
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.