inferior mesenteric artery

Mesenteric artery that supplies the large intestine from the left colic (or splenic) flexure to the upper part of the rectum, which includes the descending colon, the sigmoid colon, and part of the rectum. Proximally, its territory of distribution overlaps (forms a watershed) with the middle colic artery, and therefore the superior mesenteric artery. The SMA and IMA anastomose via the marginal artery (artery of Drummond). The territory of distribution of the IMA is more or less equivalent to the embryonic hindgut. [WP,unvetted]. Every claim on this page comes from the Leumas anatomy graph and carries its source.

What the inferior mesenteric artery is

Mesenteric artery that supplies the large intestine from the left colic (or splenic) flexure to the upper part of the rectum, which includes the descending colon, the sigmoid colon, and part of the rectum. Proximally, its territory of distribution overlaps (forms a watershed) with the middle colic artery, and therefore the superior mesenteric artery. The SMA and IMA anastomose via the marginal artery (artery of Drummond). The territory of distribution of the IMA is more or less equivalent to the embryonic hindgut. [WP,unvetted]. The atlas records it as a artery at the organ scale in the human body.

Where the inferior mesenteric artery is

It sits within the cardiovascular system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What the inferior mesenteric artery connects to

The atlas records 7 typed relationships for it, across 4 kinds of connection. part of abdominal aorta.

Supply and innervation

This dataset asserts no arterial supply, venous drainage or innervation for the inferior mesenteric artery. 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 IMA, inferior mesenteric arterial tree and arteria mesenterica inferior. Searching any of those names reaches this page.

Source

Uberon multi-species anatomy ontology (Mungall et al.), CC BY 4.0. Term UBERON:0001183, version 2026-06-19, retrieved 2026-08-24. Licence: CC-BY-4.0.

• Part of: abdominal aorta.
• A kind of: artery and systemic artery.
• Supplies: descending colon, rectum and sigmoid colon.
• contains: superior rectal artery.

Questions

Where is the inferior mesenteric artery?

It sits within the cardiovascular system. Positioned deliberately as part of this species body plan.

What does the inferior mesenteric artery connect to?

Part of: abdominal aorta.

Is the inferior mesenteric artery 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.