The Eurasian Elk's (Alces alces) Brain Base Arteries in View of Vascular Variation.

This article presents the results of analysis of the arterial vascular region of the Eurasian elk, which is a representative of the Cervidae family. The study was conducted on 39 Eurasian elks. The head arteries of 25 animals were filled with LBS 3040 synthetic latex. The head arteries of the other 14 Eurasian elks were filled with an acetone solution of stained chlorinated polyvinyl chloride and macerated. The arterial circle of the Eurasian elk's brain is composed of bilateral rostral cerebral arteries and caudal communicating arteries. The basilar artery closes the arterial circle caudally. The rostral cerebral artery first ramifies into the rostral choroidal artery, then, the middle cerebral artery and the rostral communicating artery. The caudal cerebral artery and the rostral cerebellar artery branch off the caudal communicating artery. The arterial pattern of the Eurasian elk's brain base is similar to the arteries found in other deer. Like in other Ruminantia, the rostral epidural rete mirabile is a unique structure in the Eurasian elk's arterial system. Anat Rec, 302:339-345, 2019. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The arterial circle of the brain, its branches and connections in selected representatives of the Antilopinae.

The arterial circle of the brain, that is, the circle of Willis, and its branches in ruminants have been chiefly described in farm animals and only in selected wild species. In view of the deficit of information about this vascular region in numerous other species of the Ruminantia, the arteries of the encephalic base were analyzed in five antelope species representing different genera of the Bovidae, Antilopinae. Specimens of the following species were examined: springbuck (Antidorcas marsupialis), blackbuck (Antilope cervicapra), dik-dik (Madoqua kirkii), saiga (Saiga tatarica), and oribi (Ourebia ourebi). Post-autopsy material received from domestic zoological gardens was used to inject the bilateral common carotid arteries with a stained acetone solution of vinyl superchloride. When the material was polymerized, the specimens were macerated enzymatically. The process resulted in casts of arteries of the head and encephalic base on a skeletal scaffold. The investigations revealed that the bilateral components of the arterial circle of the brain, that is, the rostral cerebral artery and caudal communicating artery, arose from the division of the intracranial segment of the internal carotid artery, which emerges from the rostral epidural rete mirabile. The extracranial segment of the internal carotid artery was obliterated. In consequence of this process, the blood reaches the brain chiefly from the maxillary artery. The research proved that the arteries of the encephalic base in the Antilopinae are most similar to the vessels described in antelopes of Tragelaphus, Taurotragus, and Boselaphus genera and small domestic ruminants. However, they are different from the arterial pattern of the encephalic base in bovines and other species classified as the Bovini.