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Musculophrenic artery: anatomy, location and function

A terminal branch of the internal thoracic artery running along the costal margin. It supplies the lower intercostal spaces, diaphragm and abdominal wall muscles.

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Structures

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Highlighted in the model: Musculophrenic 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.

Musculophrenic artery at a glance

What it is
A terminal branch of the internal thoracic artery running along the costal margin.
Location
It arises with the superior epigastric artery near the sixth costal cartilage, runs along the costal margin and gives anterior intercostal and diaphragmatic branches.
Function
It supplies the lower intercostal spaces, diaphragm and abdominal wall muscles.
Body system
Cardiovascular · paired (left and right)
FMA ID
FMA10692 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • It gives anterior intercostal arteries to about the seventh to ninth spaces.

Structures next to the musculophrenic artery

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Musculophrenic artery (FMA10692). 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.