Veterinary Gross Anatomy

Vertebral column as a whole

VERTEBRAL COLUMN AS WHOLE

Curve

• The curve of the column is slight and concave above in the cervical region whereas in the dorsal and lumbar regions the curve is gently concave below and in the sacral region it is strongly convex above.
• The curvature varies in the coccygeal region.

Vertebral (Neural) canal

• The caliber is greatest in the atlas.
• It is reduced in the axis but becomes wider at the cervico-dorsal junction. From here it is once again reduced to about the terminal part of the dorsal region.
• It increases again in the lumbar region to about the middle of the sacrum. It thereafter diminishes and disappears altogether by about the fifth or sixth coccygeal.

Processes

• The articular processes are best developed in the cervical region. They are smaller in the dorsal region but again become larger and strongly curved in the lumbar region.
• The spines are best developed in the dorsal region. In the lumbar and sacral regions they are shorter but plate like. In the cervical region, they are shorter.
• The ventral spines are best developed in the cervical region.
• The transverse processes are large and plate like in the lumbar, thick and short in the dorsal but larger in the cervical region.