Arterial vascularization in the giraffe brain

Publication Type:
Journal Article
Year of Publication:
2008
Authors:
Hieronim Frackowiak Hubert Jakubowski
Publication/Journal:
Annales zoologici Fennici
Keywords:
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Abstract:

The aim of this study was to analyze the system of arteries in the brain of the giraffe, including the arterial circle of the brain, its branches and junctions, as well as individual variation of the vessels. Analyses were performed on postmortem material of 12 heads of giraffes obtained from Polish zoological gardens. The age of the examined animals ranged from 1.5 to 12 years. Moreover, arteries of one fetus aged approximately 10 months were also analyzed. Arteries of the heads were injected with latex and vinyl superchloride dissolved in acetone. In the giraffe, similarly as in other ruminant species, obliteration of the intracranial segment of the internal carotid artery was observed, together with the presence in the cranial cavity of the rostral epidural rete mirabile, from which the preserved intracranial segment of the internal carotid artery exteriorizes. The rostral cerebral artery of the brain and the caudal communicating artery, participating in the formation of the arterial circle of the brain, are formed by segments of the terminal intracranial part of the internal carotid artery. In the giraffe branches of the arterial circle of the brain included: the internal ethmoidal artery, the middle cerebral artery, the rostral choroid artery, the caudal cerebral artery, the rostral cerebellar artery and the caudal cerebellar artery. It was shown that the basilar artery was thin and could not participate in the blood supply for the brain. On the basis of the conducted analysis it was found that in the giraffe the arterial circle of the brain is supplied with blood mainly by the maxillary artery.

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