Some anatomical studies on the abdominal aorta in the male red fox [Vulpes vulpes]

ABSTRACT

The present study was carried out on three adult male red foxes to clarify the obscure abdominal aorta in this animal. A suspension of 5% Barium sulphate was tested in the present work as both radio-opaque and vessel filler material to overcome specimens shortage of the wild animals. Hence the same specimens were radiographed, then photographed in the fresh state after opening the abdominal wall, then kept in formalin in a chilling room then carefully dissected and described, then re-photographed. The results showed that barium sulphate was an excellent vessel filler in the small vessels, while in the large vessels it was poorly hardened and may ooze if vessel leakage occurs during dissection. The abdominal aorta extended from the level of the first lumbar vertebra cranially, as a continuation of the thoracic aorta, to the level of the iliac crest caudally, slightly cranial to the promontory of the sacrum where it divided into a median sacral and a paired internal iliac arteries. All the parietal branches of the aorta were paired, they included the caudal phrenic, cranial abdominal, 7 lumbar, deep circumflex iliac and the external iliac arteries. The visceral branches were either single [celiac, cranial mesenteric and caudal mesenteric arteries] or paired [renal, middle adrenal and testicular arteries]. The level of origin of the right paired visceral arteries was cranial to that of the left ones. The adrenal gland received a cranial adrenal branch from the caudal phrenic artery, a middle adrenal artery from the abdominal aorta and a caudal adrenal branch from the renal artery. Several photographs and radiographs were prepared. The obtained results were compared with their correspondings in the domestic animals, especially the domestic carnivores