Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Blood supply to brains of ungulates with and without a rete mirabile caroticum

1974; Wiley; Volume: 153; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1002/cne.901530305

1096-9861

Lois A. Gillilan,

Neurological diseases and metabolism

Abstract The arterial blood supply to brains of some ungulates representing the orders Artiodactyla and Perissodactyla differs from that in most other mammals. Either the internal carotid or vertebral artery or both may fail to carry blood to the brains of these animals. In pig, ox and sheep the proximal segment of the internal carotid artery is absent. Instead, branches of the internal maxillary and/or the external carotid artery feed into an arterial rete mirabile caroticum . A distal segment of the internal carotid artery is reconstituted from the rete mirabile which divides into a rostral and a caudal division. In the ox the rete mirabile receives additional branches at its caudal end from the vertebral and occipital arteries. In these three animals the basilar artery is fed from its rostral end through the caudal divisions of the internal carotid arteries of either side. The horse has no rete mirabile. The internal carotid artery has a long course through its neck and forms an S‐shaped curve in the cavernous sinus before piercing the dura mater. It then divides into a rostral and a caudal division. The basilar artery in the horse is formed at its caudal end by the union of cerebral rami of the occipital arteries. The patterns of the superficial cerebral arteries in all the ungulates studied have distinct submammalian characteristics. These are evidenced by the multiple origins of the middle cerebral and posterior cerebral arteries and the presence of arterial circles in the basilar artery. The principal portion of the arterial rete mirabile always lies enmeshed in the venous plexus of the cavernous sinus. Additional venous plexuses are found intimately related to the extracranial rete mirabile in the pig and the basisphenoid portion of the arterial rete mirabile in the ox.