Abstract
ABSTRACT. Salvador-Gomes M., Hernandez J.M.F., Alonso L. da S. & Abidu-Figueiredo M. [Morphology and main branches of the basilar artery in cats]. Morfologia e ramos principais da artéria basilar em gatos. Revista Brasileira de Medicina Veterinária 34(3):206-212, 2012. Área de Anatomia Animal, Departamento de Biologia Animal, Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro, BR 465 km 7, Seropédica, RJ 23890-000, Brasil. E-mail: marceloabidu@gmail.com The knowledge of anatomical variations is important for radiological and surgical procedures for experimental research and surgical practice in domestic animals. The aim of this study was to describe the main branches of basilar artery in domestic cats. The anatomical dissections were performed on 50 cadavers of adult cats, 25 male and 25 female, with a rostrum-sacral length of 47.9 cm and 46.6 cm respectively. Cats were positioned in right lateral decubit and a thoracic incision was made to remove the 6th and 7th ribs to cannulate the thoracic portion of aorta. After fixed with 10% formaldehyde solution and performing the injections with latex solution stained with pigment, the animals were dissected to identify the main branches of the basilar arteries. The average length and standard deviation of the basilar were calculated and compared in both sexes by unpaired t test. To verify if the frequency distributions observed for the 50 examined animals is in accordance with the literature, we performed the Qui square (X2) test, with a 5% level of significance, to test if the nullity hypothesis is true for the form of the basilar artery. The relations between the basilar artery length with rostrum-sacral and cranium length were calculated by the correlation coefficient “r” varying between -1 and -1 < r < +1 The mean and standard deviation of the basilar artery was 1.92 cm ± 0.22 in females and 2.06 cm ± 0.15 in males. In all (100%) dissected cats the basilar artery, originated from the fusion of the right and left vertebral arteries as an only one artery giving different numbers of branches to pons and bulbus No correlation was observed between the basilar artery with the rostrum-sacral and cranium length in both sexes.