descending aorta

The descending aorta is the portion of the aorta in a two-pass circulatory system from the arch of aorta to the point where it divides into the common iliac arteries[GO]. The descending aorta is part of the aorta, the largest artery in the body. The descending aorta is the part of the aorta beginning at the aortic arch that runs down through the chest and abdomen. The descending aorta is divided into two portions, the thoracic and abdominal, in correspondence with the two great cavities of the trunk in which it is situated. Within the abdomen, the descending aorta branches into the two common iliac arteries which serve the legs. [WP,unvetted]. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the descending aorta is

The descending aorta is the portion of the aorta in a two-pass circulatory system from the arch of aorta to the point where it divides into the common iliac arteries[GO]. The descending aorta is part of the aorta, the largest artery in the body. The descending aorta is the part of the aorta beginning at the aortic arch that runs down through the chest and abdomen. The descending aorta is divided into two portions, the thoracic and abdominal, in correspondence with the two great cavities of the trunk in which it is situated. Within the abdomen, the descending aorta branches into the two common iliac arteries which serve the legs. [WP,unvetted]. The atlas records it as a organ at the organ scale in the human body.

Where the descending aorta is

It sits within the cardiovascular system. Not positioned individually. Drawn inside the structure this dataset says contains it — the containment is asserted, the exact spot within it is not.

What the descending aorta connects to

The atlas records 9 typed relationships for it, across 5 kinds of connection. part of aorta.

Supply and innervation

This dataset asserts no arterial supply, venous drainage or innervation for the descending aorta. Only a minority of structures carry those edges here, so an empty answer means nothing has been recorded — not that there is nothing to record.

Also called

Also recorded as pars descendens aortae and aorta descendens. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0001514, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

• Part of: aorta.
• A kind of: anatomical structure, anatomical system and section of aorta.
• Connected to: arch of aorta.
• contributes to morphology of: abdominal aorta and descending thoracic aorta.
• contains: abdominal aorta and descending thoracic aorta.

Questions

Where is the descending aorta?

It sits within the cardiovascular system. Not positioned individually. Drawn inside the structure this dataset says contains it — the containment is asserted, the exact spot within it is not.

What does the descending aorta connect to?

Part of: aorta.

Is the descending aorta the same in other species?

Leumas holds the same relationship vocabulary for every species it carries, so where another dataset records this structure you can put the two side by side on /compare.