hello anatomy friends this is dr alsup and in this video we will be discussing the gonadal
arteries so the goal is really to be able to diagram these arteries from their source to
their destination which as the name would suggest would be the gonads so as you might imagine i want
to start with the source which for the gonadal arteries is unique in comparison to most other
viscera of the pelvis or inferior to that which is more predominantly supplied by branches of the
internal iliac arteries but the gonadal arteries are branches of the abdominal aorta and you're
probably very used to this image from our time in the gastrointestinal portion of the course
so just inferior to where the renal arteries come off of the abdominal aorta you will have
the gonadal arteries you can see the left gonadal artery here you would have a right a little bit
lower down right here you see here generally it's a little bit lower sometimes not quite as much
generally right around the L2 region so functionally why do these arteries branch so
proximally when the ovaries and testes are located comparatively so inferiorly well in utero
the gonads actually flank the vertebral column so kind of just inferior to the
to the kidneys so during that time in utero these gonadal arteries are actually relatively short
but as the gonads descend to their adult positions for the ovaries in the pelvic cavity the testes
are located in the scrotum those gonadal arteries will lengthen as the gonads descend
and thus the relatively long gonadal arteries in comparison to some of the other arteries in
this region like celiac trunk or the SMA or ima these are relatively thin arteries in comparison
now while i tend to think the term gonadal artery is pretty descriptive
you will often hear the terms ovarian artery or testicular artery to provide further description
so these describe which specific gonad that artery is supplying so the ovarian artery
as its name would suggest will supply the ovaries and you will see here and you can see
it a little bit um in this region kind of next to it the artery will descend from the abdomen
and at the pelvic brim it will cross the external iliac artery to enter the true pelvic cavity
and kind of from this point it's traveling within the suspensory ligament of the ovary
otherwise known as the infundibulopelvic or IP ligament and the this is a peritoneal
ligament which is continuous with the mesovarium portion of the broad ligament of the uterus
so obviously the ovarian artery supplies the ovaries but will supply a portion of
the distal uterine or fallopian tubes as well and it will anastomose with the uterine artery
the testicular artery will supply the testes and the epididymis the testicular arteries will
branch off of the aorta like a gonadal artery does it will coarse inferior immediately along
the psoas major muscle and then it will make its way to entering through the deep inguinal ring to
travel within the spermatic cord so it's going to travel through the inguinal canal it will travel
through the superficial inguinal ring and into the scrotum where the testes and epididymis is located
excellent so those are the major points we want you to take away regarding the gonadal
arteries nicely summed up here in your summary slide please take your time to review and as
always feel free to reach out with any additional questions i hope you have a great rest of your day