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Ovarian ligament: anatomy, location and function

The ovarian ligament is a fibromuscular cord that joins the ovary to the uterus. It anchors the ovary to the uterus.

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Highlighted in the model: Ovarian ligament. Click any part to read about it, or switch off “Highlight topic” to see the whole body. Use Male / Female to switch bodies. 3D data: BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science; knee ligaments, menisci, tonsils, palate and parotid glands from the Human Reference Atlas Visible Human Male model and female parts from its Visible Human Female model (HuBMAP / NIH); lung lobes built from the BodyParts3D chest; all CC BY 4.0; meshes simplified and recoloured. The female body shares the male skeleton, muscles and organs except its pelvis, reproductive organs, breasts, bladder, urethra and skin.

Ovarian ligament at a glance

Also called
Proper ligament of ovary
What it is
The ovarian ligament is a fibromuscular cord that joins the ovary to the uterus.
Location
It runs in the broad ligament from the lower pole of the ovary to the side of the uterus, just below the entry of the uterine tube.
Function
It anchors the ovary to the uterus.
Body system
Reproductive · paired (left and right) · female body
FMA ID
FMA55424 (Foundational Model of Anatomy)

Key facts

  • Like the round ligament, it is a remnant of the gubernaculum.

Clinical relevance

It is divided when the ovary and tube are removed (salpingo-oophorectomy) with the uterus left in place.

Structures next to the ovarian ligament

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

References

  1. Foundational Model of Anatomy: Ovarian ligament (FMA55424). EMBL-EBI Ontology Lookup Service.
  2. OpenStax. Anatomy and Physiology 2e, §27.2 Anatomy and Physiology of the Ovarian Reproductive 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.
  4. Browne K., Schlehlein H. 3D Reference Organ Set for United, Female (Visible Human Female). Human Reference Atlas 3D Reference Object Library, HuBMAP / NIH. Data from the NLM Visible Human Project. 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.