Arterial Blood Supply to the Cerebral Arterial Circle in the Selected Species of Carnivora Order from Poland

Abstract

Carnivores are a wide, diverse group of mammals whose representatives live all over the world. The study presents the results of the analysis of the arterial vascularization of the blood supply to the cerebral arterial circle of selected species in the Caniformia suborder living in Poland. The selected group consists of wild and farm animals—105 animals in total. Three different methods were used—latex preparation, corrosion cast, and cone-beam computed tomography angiography. The main source of blood for encephalon in the described species is the internal carotid artery, and the second one is the vertebral artery. The results were discussed in relation to the current knowledge of this field of research. Information on the potential physiological meaning of such vascular pattern has been provided.

The Arteries of the Encephalon Base in Caracal (Caracal caracal; Felidae; Carnivora)

“…Such a model of branching off suggests that blood to this vessel could flow into the caudal cerebellar artery, both from the caudal communicating artery side and from the vertebral artery side [32]. As in the caracal, a strong basilar artery that does not decrease in diameter is found in other felids, canids, and camels [19,27,[33][34][35]. An additional feature that may support this claim is that the basilar artery has the same diameter over its entire length, i.e., its diameter does not decrease in the caudal direction.…”

“…In Caniformia, the internal carotid artery is well developed and does not undergo obliteration. Studies conducted on the raccoon dog (Nyctereutes procyonoides), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), grey wolf (Canis lupus), American mink (Mustela vison), European badger (Meles meles), Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), common raccoon (Procyon lotor), and grey seal (Halichoerus grypus) present the occurrence and course of this vessel in adults [35,[44][45][46][47][48].…”