The arterial blood supply to the ureters is provided by branches from the adjacent vessels as they travel toward the urinary bladder.

The upper part of the ureters are supplied by branches of the renal arteries.
The middle part of the ureters may receive branches of the abdominal aorta, gonadal arteries (testicular arteries in males/ovarian arteries in females), and the common iliac arteries (Read more!).
In the pelvic cavity, the lower part of the ureters are supplied by branches of the internal iliac artery (Read more!).

All of the arteries reaching the ureters divide into ascending and descending branches, which create longitudinal anastomoses.

The innervation of the ureters is provided by nerves that follow the course of blood vessels and arise from several plexuses - renal plexus, aortic plexus, superior hypogastric plexus, and inferior hypogastric plexus.

Both sympathetic and parasympathetic sources provide visceral efferent fibers, while visceral afferent fibers return to the spinal cord at the levels of the T11 to L2 vertebrae.

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Blood supply and innervation of ureters