Introduction The most common type of vascular complication during cervical spine surgery is the vertebral artery (VA) injury. The presence of anatomical variation in the artery's morphology has been a significant factor for arterial injury during surgery. Therefore, physicians planning interventions in the craniospinal region need to be aware of the extents of variations. In addition to vascular injury, anatomical variations can predispose to some pathologies in the posterior circulation territory. To provide useful data to interventional radiologists, anatomists, and surgeons, we evaluated the anatomical features of the V1 and V2 segments of the VA in a South African population. Materials and methods The study is an observational, retrospective chart review of 554 consecutive South African patients (Black, Indian and White) who had undergone computed tomography angiography (CTA) from January 2009 to September 2019. Results The VA exhibited morphological variation in its course. We report the incidence of variant origin of the left VA, all from the aortic arch. Variation in the level of entry into the transverse foramen ranged between C7 and C3. A left dominant pattern was observed; we also report on hypoplasia of the VA. In addition, we report incidence of VA tortuosity at V1, V2 to be 76.6% and 32.1%, respectively. Conclusions The baseline data established in this study regarding the diameter, variant origin, and level of entry into the transverse foramen will assist neurosurgeons and interventional radiologists in interpreting, diagnosing, and planning and executing various vascular procedures and treatment of pathology in the vicinity of the VA.

The intracranial segment of the vertebral artery (VA) is the unique part of the artery where the two VAs join to form a single vascular channel, viz. the basilar artery. In addition to this typical description, anatomical variations have been described; the presence of anatomical variation has been associated with some pathological processes, neurological complications, and the risk of vascular diseases in the posterior circulatory territory. We evaluated the typical anatomical features and variations of the VA4 component of the VA in a South African population to provide useful data on the prevalence of variation and morphometry of the distal VA. The study is an observational, retrospective chart review of 554 consecutive South African patients (Black, Indian, and Caucasian) who had been examined with multidetector computed tomography angiography (MDCTA) from January 2009 to September 2019. We observed various anatomical variations in the VA4 segment of the VA. We report the incidence of VA hypoplasia, hypoplastic terminal VA, and atresia. Fenestration and duplicate posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) origin were also observed. The left intracranial VA was significantly larger than the right. Our study shows that anatomical variation of the intracranial VA is common in the population studied, with a total prevalence of 36.5%. Understanding the patterns of anatomical variations of the VAs will contribute significantly to the interpretation of ischemic areas and diagnosis of various diseases in the posterior circulatory territory.

This study was designed to evaluate the hepatoprotective and ameliorative effects of aqueous extract of Moringa oleifera (MO) leaves on the histologyof liver and hepatic reticular fibres integrity of adult Wistar rats following lead-induced hepatotoxicity. Twenty four adult Wistar rats, weighing 180-220 g, randomly assigned into four groups of six animals each were used for the study. Lead and Moringa oleifera were given orally to the rats. 24 hours after the last administration, animals were sacrificed, blood obtained by cardiac puncture and liver excised, fixed in 10% phosphate buffered formalin for histological and histochemical analysis. The activities of aspartate amino transferase (AST), alanine amino transferase (ALT) and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) were used as markers of hepatotoxicity and catalase (CAT) activity were used as marker to evaluate the anti-oxidant status of the tissue. Result showed that lead treatment increased markers of hepatic damage (ALT, AST and ALP) and decreased CAT activities. Histological studies reveal alterations of hepatic structure including hepatocytic vacuolations, sinuosoidal congestion and loss of reticular fibres following lead treatment. Treatment with MO prevented and reversed lead induced hepatic damage. In conclusion, this study shows that Moringa oleifera leaf extract has an appreciable ability to prevent hepatotoxicity caused by lead, partly as result of its chemical constituents which has hepatoprotective properties.

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