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Descending colon: anatomy, location and function

The descending colon passes down from the left colic (splenic) flexure to the sigmoid colon. It stores feces and absorbs remaining water.

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Highlighted in the model: Descending colon. 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.

Descending colon at a glance

What it is
The descending colon passes down from the left colic (splenic) flexure to the sigmoid colon.
Location
It is secondarily retroperitoneal on the left side of the abdomen. It runs from the splenic flexure to the left iliac fossa and is about 25 cm long.
Function
It stores feces and absorbs remaining water.
Body system
Digestive · single, midline structure
FMA ID
FMA14547 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • Supplied by the left colic artery and sigmoid branches of the inferior mesenteric artery.
  • It is narrower than the ascending colon.

Structures next to the descending colon

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Descending colon (FMA14547). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §23.1 Overview of the Digestive System. 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.

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