Anatomical study of the arterial blood supply to the thoracolumbar spinal cord in guinea pig.

Guinea pigs are frequently used as experimental models in studies of ischemic spinal cord injury. The aim of this study was to describe the arterial blood supply to the thoracolumbar spinal cord in 20 adult English self guinea pigs using the corrosion and dissection techniques. The dorsal intercostal arteries arising from the dorsal surface of the thoracic aorta were found as follows: in eight pairs in 70% of cases, in seven pairs in 20% of cases and in nine pairs in 10% of cases. Paired lumbar arteries were present as seven pairs in all the cases. The occurrence of the ventral and dorsal branches of the spinal rami observed in the thoracic and lumbar region was higher on the left than on the right. The artery of Adamkiewicz was present in 60% of cases as a single vessel and in 40% of cases as a double vessel. On the dorsal surface of the spinal cord, we found two dorsal spinal arteries in 60% of cases and three in 40% of cases. The presence of the artery of Adamkiewicz and nearly regular segmental blood supplying the thoracolumbar part of the spinal cord in all our studied animals is the reason for using guinea pigs as a simple model of ischemic damage to the thoracolumbar part of the spinal cord.

Anatomical study of blood supply to the cervical spinal cord in the guinea pig.

The aim of this study was to describe the arterial arrangement of the cervical spinal cord in the guinea pig. The study was carried out on 20 adult English self guinea pigs using corrosion and dissection technique. Batson's corrosion casting kit no. 17(©) was used as a casting medium. The origin of the ventral spinal artery from the left vertebral artery was found on average in 35% of the cases and from the right vertebral artery on average in 40% of the cases. The ventral spinal artery with origin from the anastomosis of two medial branches was found on average in 25% of the cases. The presence of ventral radicular branches of rami spinales entering the ventral spinal artery in the cervical region was observed in 42% of the cases on the right side and in 58% of the cases on the left side. The presence of dorsal radicular branches of rami spinales that reached the spinal cord was observed in 63% of the cases on the left side and in 37% of the cases on the right side. The number of radicular branches supplying the spinal cord is greater in guinea pig than in humans.