Arterial circle of the African green monkey brain

Abstract

This research has been carried out on 20 African green monkey brains (Cercopithecus aethiops) whose cerebral vascular bed has been injected with Latex. After fixation in 10% formalin solution, arteries of the brain base have been put through stereomicroscopic dissection and measurements. It was determined that on the brain base of this monkey there is an arterial circle (AC), which is formed, anteriorly, by the terminal parts of both internal carotid arteries and their branches, i.e. the right and left anterior cerebral arteries, and posteriorly, by terminal branches of basilar artery i.e. the right and left posterior cerebral arteries, as well as right and left posterior communicating arteries. The length and diameter of the arteries that constitute the AC of the Cercopithecus brain base have been measured. On the basis of the measured values, the length and the diameter of the anterior (left, right, total) and posterior segment (left, right total) of the AC have been calculated. The measurements point towards mild L/R asymmetry of the AC segments, as well as towards differences between their anterior and posterior segments. However, the pointed L/R asymmetry is not significant (p>0.05) for the values for length (FB=0.033; p=0.856), nor for the values of diameters (FB=1.344; p=0.250). The anterior and posterior segments of the AC do not differ significantly (p>0.05) according to the length (FA =102.194; p=0.962; t=-1.103; p=0.277). Diameters of the anterior segment have a highly significant difference (p<0.01) compared to the diameters of the posterior segment of the brain base AC (FA=102.194; p=0.00 FdL=58.139; FdD=43.000; t=7.651; p=0.00). The African green monkey with the described similarities of the brain base arterial circle, which correlates to that of the humans, may represent a suitable experimental animal model in complex cardiovascular research.