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Digestive tract anatomy in 3D

Beta

Follow food from the esophagus through the stomach and the small and large intestines, with the mesenteric, gastric and colic arteries and veins.

Beta

Interactive 3D atlas

Loads about 9 MB of 3D data the first time. Works best on a laptop or a recent phone.

Study the digestive tract in 3D

Follow food from the esophagus through the stomach and the small and large intestines, with the mesenteric, gastric and colic arteries and veins.

Turn and zoom

Drag to rotate, scroll or pinch to zoom, and tap any part to see its name and explanation.

Labels and standard views

Switch labels on or off and jump to front, back, side, top and bottom views, with an orientation cube.

Section cuts

Cut through the structure in transverse, coronal or sagittal planes and slide the cut through it.

Explode and see-through

Pull the parts apart, or make the outer layers faint to see what is inside.

Guided tour

Follow the "Path of food" tour one step at a time, or press Play and let the camera fly to each part.

Parts in this model

128 named parts, each with the FMA identifier the dataset gives it. Tap a group in the app to show or hide it.

  • Esophagus1
  • Stomach1
  • Duodenum1
  • Jejunum23
  • Ileum31
  • Large intestine6
  • Teniae coli3
  • Mesenteries3
  • Arteries of the digestive tract27
  • Veins of the digestive tract19
  • Liver, pancreas, gallbladder, spleen (context)13

Guided tour: Path of food (10 steps)

Each step highlights the parts it talks about. The sentence is quoted word for word from OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology 2e.

  1. 1. Esophagus

    To enter the abdomen, the esophagus penetrates the diaphragm through an opening called the esophageal hiatus.
    OpenStax, 23.3 The Esophagus

  2. 2. Stomach

    The cardia (or cardiac region) is the point where the esophagus connects to the stomach and through which food passes into the stomach.
    OpenStax, 23.4 Structure

  3. 3. Duodenum

    The funnel-shaped pylorus connects the stomach to the duodenum.
    OpenStax, 23.4 Structure

  4. 4. Jejunum

    The jejunum is about 0.9 meters (3 feet) long (in life) and runs from the duodenum to the ileum.
    OpenStax, 23.5 Structure

  5. 5. Ileum

    The ileum joins the cecum, the first portion of the large intestine, at the ileocecal sphincter (or valve).
    OpenStax, 23.5 Structure

  6. 6. Ileocecal junction

    The ileocecal valve, located at the opening between the ileum and the large intestine, controls the flow of chyme from the small intestine to the large intestine.
    OpenStax, 23.5 Subdivisions

  7. 7. Ascending colon

    Upon entering the colon, the food residue first travels up the ascending colon on the right side of the abdomen.
    OpenStax, 23.5 Colon

  8. 8. Transverse colon

    Food residue passing through the transverse colon travels across to the left side of the abdomen, where the colon angles sharply immediately inferior to the spleen, at the left colic flexure (splenic flexure).
    OpenStax, 23.5 Colon

  9. 9. Descending colon

    From there, food residue passes through the descending colon, which runs down the left side of the posterior abdominal wall.
    OpenStax, 23.5 Colon

  10. 10. Rectum

    Food residue leaving the sigmoid colon enters the rectum in the pelvis, near the third sacral vertebra.
    OpenStax, 23.5 Rectum

What this model does not show

The cecum, sigmoid colon and anal canal are not in the dataset.

Where the data or the textbook has a gap, the atlas says so instead of filling it in.

Keep exploring

Questions

What can I see in the digestive tract model?

The model has 128 named parts in 11 groups: Esophagus, Stomach, Duodenum, Jejunum, Ileum, Large intestine, Teniae coli, Mesenteries and 3 more groups.

What is the "Path of food" tour?

It is a guided tour of 10 steps. Each step highlights the parts it describes and shows a sentence quoted from OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology 2e. Press Play to let the camera fly to each step for you.

What is missing from the digestive tract model?

The cecum, sigmoid colon and anal canal are not in the dataset.

Where does the information come from?

The 3D shapes come from the BodyParts3D dataset (and, for the female pelvic region, the Human Reference Atlas). Every explanation is a sentence quoted word for word from the open textbook OpenStax Anatomy and Physiology 2e, with a link to its section.

Can I use it to diagnose or treat anything?

No. The atlas is for learning only. It is a beta version and has not yet been reviewed by an anatomy educator.

Credits and disclaimer

For learning only, not for diagnosis or treatment. This is a beta version and it has not yet been reviewed by an anatomy educator.

BodyParts3D, © The Database Center for Life Science licensed under CC Attribution 4.0 International. Text quoted from OpenStax, Anatomy and Physiology 2e, © Rice University, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Female pelvic region from the Human Reference Atlas (HuBMAP), CC BY 4.0.

This tool is free, non-commercial and made for education. It has no ads and no paid features.

All sources and licences