First costal cartilage at a glance
- Also called
- Costal cartilage 1
- What it is
- The bar of hyaline cartilage that connects the first rib to the sternum.
- Location
- Extends forward from the front end of rib 1. Joins the manubrium directly at the first sternocostal synchondrosis, which has no synovial cavity.
- Function
- Gives the rib cage elasticity, allowing the chest wall to expand during breathing.
- Body system
- Skeletal · paired (left and right)
- FMA ID
- FMA8005 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)
Key facts
- It is the shortest and broadest costal cartilage, and the first sternocostal joint is usually a primary cartilaginous joint.
- Costal cartilages may calcify with age.
Structures next to the first costal cartilage
The nearest named structures in the 3D model, measured from the centre of each part:
- First posterior intercostal artery · cardiovascular
- Second rib · skeletal
- Superior vena cava · cardiovascular
- Pulmonary trunk · cardiovascular
- Lobe of thymus · endocrine
- Third rib · skeletal
- Brachiocephalic vein · cardiovascular
- Manubrium · skeletal
- Subclavian vein · cardiovascular
- Second costal cartilage · skeletal
References
- Foundational Model of Anatomy: First costal cartilage (FMA8005). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
- OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §7.1 Divisions of the Skeletal 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.
Related anatomy
Explore the whole body in the interactive 3D human anatomy model, or browse the A–Z list of human structures.