Vertebral Artery Variations in American‐Bred Cottontail Rabbits

Abstract

It is estimated that there are over 6.2 million American‐bred rabbits owned as domesticated pets in the United States. However, variation in the vasculature of domesticated rabbits is not well studied and could therefore lead to complications during surgeries. This study examined the variation in the origin of the vertebral artery. In rabbits, the vertebral artery (right and left) typically branch off of the subclavian artery (right and left respectively), travels superiorly through the neck with spinal processes branching off of it to supply the spinal cord. The bilateral vertebral arteries then continue to travel cranially, through the foramen magnum. Here, they join to become the basilar artery, which aids in supplying the brain with blood. Through dissection of commercially available preserved rabbits, a new variation was found in the left vertebral artery: an anastomosis between the left subclavian artery and the left common carotid artery. No variation was found in the right vertebral artery. These results will potentially help veterinarian surgeons perform cardiovascular and cerebral surgeries with less complications, thus increasing survival rates.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.