The aortic arch of piglets

Abstract

The morphology of the branches of the aortic arch is an important topic in car- diology. Vessels extending from the aortic arch may differ in number, place of departure in different species of animals, as well as have variations of branching within the same species. However, regardless of the existing variations, all of them are the main arterial highways for organs and tissues of the head, neck and thoracic extremities. Considering the above, we set a goal to study the branches of the aortic arch in piglets and give them a morphometric characteristic. The corpses of newborn piglets of the Landrace breed served as the material for the study. The research method was fine anatomical dissection and morphometry. For fine anatomical dissection, injection of the vascular bed with colored latex was performed. During the study, it was found that two arteries depart from the aortic arch in newborn pig- lets: the left subclavian and the brachiocephalic. When comparing the diameters of these arteries, it can be noted that the distribution of blood flow occurs asymmetrically. The bra- chiocephalic artery has a larger diameter. The brachiocephalic artery follows in the cranial direction and gives off the trunk of the common carotid arteries, after which it continues as the right subclavian artery. The diameter of the trunk of the common carotid arteries ex- ceeds that of the brachiocephalic artery. The diameter of the right subclavian artery did not significantly differ from that of the left subclavian artery. Branches of subclavian arteries include two groups: dorsal and ventral. Mainly the dorsal direction has the costal-cervical trunk, deep cervical and vertebral arteries, and the ventral direction has the brachial trunk, internal thoracic and superficial cervical arteries. The largest artery from the group of dor- sal branches is the costal-cervical trunk. Among the group of ventral branches, two arteries reach the maximum diameter: the internal thoracic and the brachial trunk.