| Nutrient artery | |
|---|---|
 The blood supply to long bones, here with nutrient arteries labeled. | |
 A nutrient artery feeding the femur seen on X-ray | |
| Details | |
| Identifiers | |
| Latin | arteria nutricia, arteria nutriens |
| TA98 | A12.0.00.004 |
| TA2 | 3897 |
| FMA | 50779 |
| Anatomical terminology | |
Thenutrient artery (arteria nutricia, orcentral artery), usually accompanied by one or twonutrient veins, enters thebone through the nutrient foramen, runs obliquely through the cortex, sends branches upward and downward to thebone marrow, which ramify in theendosteum–the vascular membrane lining themedullary cavity–and give twigs to the adjoining canals. Nutrient arteries are the most apparentblood vessels of thebones.[1]
All bones possess larger or smaller foramina for the entrance of the nourishing blood-vessels; these are known as thenutrient foramina, and are particularly large in the shafts of the largerlong bones, where they lead into anutrient canal, which extends into the medullary cavity (bone marrow cavity).[2]
This article incorporates text in thepublic domain frompage 88 of the 20th edition ofGray's Anatomy(1918)
This article incorporates text from apublic domain edition ofSobotta's Anatomy.
