One of the arteries which supply the small intestine.
The second of three major arterial trunks to the gut. The superior mesenteric artery emerges from the ventral midline of the aorta only a few centimeters distal to the celiac trunk, and it supplies the entire midgut, which includes the distal half of the duodenum, the jejunum, the ileum, the ascending colon, and half of the transverse colon.