<P> The vertebral arteries are major arteries of the neck . Typically, the vertebral arteries originate from the subclavian arteries . Each vessel courses superiorly along each side of the neck, merging within the skull to form the single, midline basilar artery . As the supplying component of the vertebrobasilar vascular system, the vertebral arteries provide supply blood to the upper spinal cord, brainstem, cerebellum, and posterior part of brain . </P> <P> The vertebral arteries arise from the subclavian arteries, one on each side of the body, then enter deep to the transverse process at the level of the 6th cervical vertebrae (C6), or occasionally (in 7.5% of cases) at the level of C7 . They then proceed superiorly, in the transverse foramen of each cervical vertebra . Once they have passed through the transverse foramen of C1 (also known as the atlas), the vertebral arteries travel across the posterior arch of C1 and through the suboccipital triangle before entering the foramen magnum . </P> <P> Nunziante Ippolito, a Neapolitan physician, identified the "angle of Nunziante Ippolito" to find the vertebral artery, between the anterior scalene muscle and the longus colli muscle . </P>

Artery that travels through the transverse foramina of the cervical vertebrae