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Ileal artery: anatomy, location and function

The ileal arteries are branches of the superior mesenteric artery supplying the ileum. They supply the ileum.

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Highlighted in the model: Ileal 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.

Ileal artery at a glance

What it is
The ileal arteries are branches of the superior mesenteric artery supplying the ileum.
Location
They arise from the left side of the superior mesenteric artery, form arcades in the mesentery and send straight vessels (vasa recta) to the ileal wall.
Function
They supply the ileum.
Body system
Cardiovascular · single, midline structure
FMA ID
FMA14809 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • The ileum has more tiers of arcades and shorter vasa recta than the jejunum.

Structures next to the ileal artery

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Ileal artery (FMA14809). 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.

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