Anatomical and Morphometric Variations in the Arterial System of the Domestic Cat

Abstract

We document the anatomical architecture and frequency of occurrence of variations in the branching pattern of the brachiocephalic artery and the origin of the internal iliac arteries in the domestic cat, a widely used model organism in both anatomical training and research. Based on the study of 56 preserved specimens, we observed three distinct arrangements in the branching pattern of the brachiocephalic artery. The most common pattern (52% of the examined specimens) was that in which the brachiocephalic artery was divided into two branches, the left common carotid artery and a common branch for the right subclavian artery and the right common carotid artery. The frequency of occurrence of each variation type was independent of the gender and body size. The internal iliac arteries originated caudal to the point at which the external iliac arteries branched off from the abdominal aorta. However, the portion of the abdominal aorta between the external and internal iliac arteries varied greatly in length and was not significantly correlated with its width, nor with body size or gender. This study is the first to report and quantify the occurrence of such variations in North American cats. Given the anatomical similarity between the cat and other felids, the results of this study can be applied to other species, including endangered species.

Morphology and morphometry of ramification of the aortic arch in domestic shorthair cats in the clinical aspect

“…The available literature provides only one publication on the detailed morphology of the brachiocephalic trunk in a domestic cat (11). The conducted study showed the presence of three types of branches of the said vessel.…”

Anomalous origin of the right subclavian artery in a Neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis, Olfers—1818)

“…It has been reported in the mustelids L. longicaudis (Barbosa et al., 2021), Lontra canadiensis (Baitchman & Kollias, 2000), Lutra lutra (Jang et al., 2023) and Mustela putorius furo (Quesenberry & Carpenter, 2012); the procyonids Procyon cancrivorus (Pereira et al., 2016; Santos et al., 2004), Procyon lotor (Davis, 1964), Nasua nasua (Biihrer et al., 2015), Nasua sp. (Davis, 1964) and Potos flavus (Davis, 1964); the ailurid Ailurus fulgens (Davis, 1964); the ursids Ailuropoda melanoleuca, Helarctos malayanus , Ursus americanus , and Ursus arctos gyas (Davis, 1964); the canids Canis lupus familiaris (Davis, 1964; Hermanson et al., 2020), Canis latrans, Lycaon pictus (Davis, 1964), Vulpes vulpes (Davis, 1964; Karakurum & Özgel, 2013) and Cerdocyon thous (Engel et al., 2013; Lima et al., 2016), and the felids Felis catus (Gonzalez et al., 2015; More et al., 2016) and Leopardus pardalis (Martins et al., 2010). Among these species, the anomalous origin of the right subclavian artery has been reported in C. lupus familiaris in very low prevalence, such as 1.1% (3/275) (Vitums, 1962), 0.8% (7/802) (Sebastian‐Marcos et al., 2019) and 1.6% (3/192) (Schorn et al., 2021).…”

Morphology of the aortic arch branching pattern in raccoon dogs (Nyctereutes procyonoides, Gray, 1834)

“…Aortic arch (AA) branching patterns represent diverse variations among mammalian species, including carnivores [ 1 2 3 ], rodents [ 4 5 ], primates [ 6 ], pigs [ 7 ], horses [ 8 ], and ruminants [ 9 10 11 ]. Each species has distinctive features [ 12 ].…”