Atlas (C1)

Study entry

Parts

A bony ring with no body and no spinous process: two lateral masses, which play the role of the body and support the skull, joined by the anterior and posterior arches, each with a tubercle in the middle of its outer surface. The transverse processes arise from the lateral masses and are the widest of the cervical vertebrae. On the posterior surface of the anterior arch, the fovea of the dens; on the upper surface of the posterior arch, the wide groove for the vertebral artery.

Joints

Atlanto-occipital (superior articular surfaces, concave and kidney-shaped, with the occipital condyles); atlantoaxial (with the axis: the anterior arch with the dens and the lateral masses with the superior surfaces of the axis). The transverse ligament of the atlas, between the lateral masses, holds the dens against the anterior arch.

Source: cap. 2, «Vértebras: vértebras cervicales» y tabla 2-1

Other structures in this region

• Typical cervical vertebra (C3–C6)
• Axis (C2)
• Vertebra prominens (C7)
• Typical thoracic vertebra (T1–T12)
• Typical lumbar vertebra (L1–L5)
• Sacrum
• Coccyx