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Composition of encephalic arteries and origin of the basilar artery are different between vertebrates

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Abstract

Intracranial arterial anatomy is lacking for most mammalian and non-mammalian model species, especially concerning the origin of the basilar artery (BA). Enhancing the knowledge of this anatomy can improve animal models and help understanding anatomical variations in humans. We have studied encephalic arteries in three different species of birds and eight different species of mammals using formalin-fixed brains injected with arterial red latex. Our results and literature analysis indicate that, for all vertebrates, the internal carotid artery (ICA) supplies the brain and divides into two branches: a cranial and a caudal branch. The difference between vertebrates lies in the caudal branch of the ICA. For non-mammalian, the caudal branch is the origin of the BA, and the vertebral artery (VA) is not involved in brain supply. For mammals, the VA supplies encephalic arteries in two different ways. In the first type of organization, mostly found in ungulates, the carotid rete mirabile supplies the encephalic arteries, the caudal branch is the origin of the BA, and the VA is indirectly involved in carotid rete mirabile blood supply. The second type of encephalic artery organization for mammals is the same as in humans. The caudal branch of the ICA serves as the posterior communicating artery, and the BA originates from both VAs. We believe that knowledge of comparative anatomy of encephalic arteries contributes to a better understanding of animal models applicable to surgical or radiological techniques. It improves the understanding of rare encephalic variations that may be present in humans.

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Datasets can be accessed by contacting celine.salaud@chu-nantes.fr.

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Funding

The authors declare no funding and no personal conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Anatomy, Medicine University, Nantes, France

    Céline Salaud, Victor Moreau, Cyrille Decante, Stéphane Ploteau & Antoine Hamel

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Nantes University Hospital, Saint Herblain, France

    Céline Salaud

  3. Department of Veterinary Anatomy, Oniris - Veterinary Medicine School, Nantes, France

    Claude Guintard & Eric Betti

  4. Laboratoire d’Anatomie, Faculté de Médecine de Nantes, 1 Rue Gaston Veil, 44035, Nantes, France

    Céline Salaud

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  1. Céline Salaud
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Contributions

We, the undersigned, certify that each author has participated in and has contributed sufficiently to the work to take public responsibility for the appropriateness of the experimental design and methods, the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data and that this final version has been reviewed and approved for submission and publication. We also certify that the sequence of authorship below is identical to that of the submitted manuscript. Conception and design: CS; Acquisition and data: CS, VM, CG, EB; Analysis and interpretation of data: CS, VM, CG, EB; Drafting of the manuscript: CS, VM; Critical revision of the manuscript: CS, CG, EB; Administrative, technical, or material support: CS, CD, SP, AH, CG, EB; Supervision: CS, CD, SP, AH, CG, EB.

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Correspondence to Céline Salaud.

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The authors declare no conflict of interest. The authors declare no financial disclosure. The authors have no personal, financial, or institutional interest in any of the devices described in this article.

Ethical approval

Local Institutional Review Board and Ethics Committee approval was obtained for use of animal anatomical specimens. The animals were euthanized by veterinarians in a comparative anatomy unit, and the approval of the Ethics Committee for Animal Experimentation (CEEA, C44274) was obtained beforehand.

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Salaud, C., Moreau, V., Decante, C. et al. Composition of encephalic arteries and origin of the basilar artery are different between vertebrates. Surg Radiol Anat 46, 285–297 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03286-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00276-023-03286-6

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