The ligament of apex dentis (or apical odontoid ligament) is a ligament that spans between the second

cervical vertebra In tetrapods, cervical vertebrae (singular: vertebra) are the vertebrae of the neck, immediately below the skull. Truncal vertebrae (divided into thoracic and lumbar vertebrae in mammals) lie caudal (toward the tail) of cervical vertebrae. In ...

in the

neck The neck is the part of the body on many vertebrates that connects the head with the torso. The neck supports the weight of the head and protects the nerves that carry sensory and motor information from the brain down to the rest of the body. In ...

and the

skull The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, t ...

. It lies as a fibrous cord in the triangular interval between the alar ligaments, which extends from the tip of the odontoid process on the axis to the anterior margin of the

foramen magnum The foramen magnum ( la, great hole) is a large, oval-shaped opening in the occipital bone of the skull. It is one of the several oval or circular openings (foramina) in the base of the skull. The spinal cord, an extension of the medulla oblonga ...

, being intimately blended with the deep portion of the anterior atlantooccipital membrane and superior crus of the transverse ligament of the atlas. Anatomy of the Neck Sagittal Color MRI

It is regarded as a rudimentary intervertebral fibrocartilage, and in it traces of the

notochord In anatomy, the notochord is a flexible rod which is similar in structure to the stiffer cartilage. If a species has a notochord at any stage of its life cycle (along with 4 other features), it is, by definition, a chordate. The notochord cons ...

may persist.

References

External links

* Ligaments of the head and neck Bones of the vertebral column {{ligament-stub