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Deep plantar artery: anatomy, location and function

The deep plantar artery is a branch of the dorsalis pedis that passes to the sole of the foot. It connects the dorsal and plantar arterial systems of the foot.

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Highlighted in the model: Deep plantar artery. 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.

Deep plantar artery at a glance

What it is
The deep plantar artery is a branch of the dorsalis pedis that passes to the sole of the foot.
Location
It arises from the dorsalis pedis artery, passes between the heads of the first dorsal interosseous muscle through the first intermetatarsal space into the sole and joins the lateral plantar artery to form the deep plantar arch.
Function
It connects the dorsal and plantar arterial systems of the foot.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA69515 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It is the main link between the dorsalis pedis and the plantar arch.

Structures next to the deep plantar artery

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Deep plantar artery (FMA69515). 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.