Anatomy study note · Upper limb
Pectoralis minor
A thin triangular muscle beneath pectoralis major. It is the key landmark of the axilla, dividing the axillary artery into three parts.
Key points
- Ribs 3–5 → coracoid process.
- Medial pectoral nerve.
- Divides the axillary artery into 3 parts.
- Depresses the shoulder; accessory muscle of inspiration.
- Limb muscles: in situ from limb-bud mesenchyme.
- Upper limb bud C4–T2; lower limb bud L2–S2.
- Skeletal muscle: multinucleated, peripheral nuclei, striated.
- Epimysium → perimysium → endomysium.
The full note in the atlas also covers
Origin · Insertion · Action · Nerve supply · Histology · Development
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Written from
- Snell’s Clinical Anatomy by Regions, 10th ed., ch. 3, PDF pp. 301, 372–374
- Inderbir Singh’s Human Embryology, ch. 7, PDF p. 109; ch. 10, PDF pp. 142–145
- BRS Cell Biology & Histology, 7th ed., ch. 8, PDF pp. 135–144
More from the upper limb
- Phalanges of the hand
- Pronator quadratus
- Pronator teres
- Radial artery
- Radial nerve
- Radioulnar joints and interosseous membrane
- Radius
- Rhomboid major
- Rhomboid minor
- Scapula
- Serratus anterior
- Shoulder joint
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