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Body of vertebra
A typical thoracic vertebra, viewed from above. (Body visible at top center.)
A cervical vertebra. (Body visible at top center.)
Latin	corpus vertebrae
Gray's	subject #20 96
Dorlands/Elsevier	c_56/12260904

The body is the largest part of a vertebra, and is more or less cylindrical in shape.

Its upper and lower surfaces are flattened and rough, and give attachment to the intervertebral fibrocartilages, and each presents a rim around its circumference.

In front, the body is convex from side to side and concave from above downward.

Behind, it is flat from above downward and slightly concave from side to side.

Its anterior surface presents a few small apertures, for the passage of nutrient vessels; on the posterior surface is a single large, irregular aperture, or occasionally more than one, for the exit of the basi-vertebral veins from the body of the vertebra.

[edit] External links

• Dictionary at eMedicine vertebral+body
• SUNY Figs 02:01-07 - "Superior and lateral views of typical vertebrae."

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

Spine edit

general structures: body of vertebra, vertebral arch (pedicle, lamina, vertebral notch), foramina (vertebral, intervertebral), processes (transverse, articular, spinous) cervical vertebrae: C1 (anterior arch, posterior arch, lateral mass), C2 (dens), C7, posterior tubercle, foramen transversarium thoracic vertebrae: costal facets (superior, inferior, transverse) lumbar vertebrae: accessory process, mammillary process sacrum/coccyx: pelvic surface (anterior sacral foramina, dorsal surface (posterior sacral foramina, median sacral crest, medial sacral crest, lateral sacral crest), lateral surface, base, sacral hiatus