Quick Facts
Origin: Marginal artery.
Course: Short course to the colon wall.
Branches: Long and short branches.
Supplied Structures: Colon.
Related parts of the anatomy
Origin
The straight arteries are the terminal branches of the marginal artery. They arise from the marginal artery as it travels adjacent to the colon at the mesenteric border.
Course
From their origins, the straight arteries travel to the colon.
Branches
The straight arteries give rise to long and short branches, the vasa longa and vasa brevia.
The short branches pass from the marginal artery towards the wall of the intestine and supplies the area bordering the attachment of the transverse mesocolon to the intestinal wall and the mesocolic teniae.
The long branches have a more sinusoid course. They pass along the wall of the intestine, from the mesocolic teniae, and extend towards the omental and free teniae before they enter the intestinal wall.
The terminal short and long branches travel via the loose connective subserosa to supply the appendices epiploicae. This is how the serosa receives its blood supply.
A submucosal plexus arises from the long branches. They penetrate the muscular layer of the colon, perpendicular to the long axis of the gut, and continue along the long axis of the colon. Some contributions from the serous plexus may arise (Kachlik, Baca and Stingl, 2010). The submucosal blood vessels extend towards the lumen of the colon as a mucosal plexus.
Supplied Structures
The straight arteries supply the colon.
List of Clinical Correlates
—Colonic vascular occlusion
—Splenic flexure ischemia
