Complex intracranial arterial anatomy in swine is unsuitable for cerebral infarction projects.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To see whether swine provide a suitable animal model for cerebral ischemia research projects related to apoptosis. Swine angiograms had not been obtained previously in our institution. METHODS: We performed angiography on an anesthetized pig. A right femoral artery cannulation was carried out, and angiographic images of the right cerebral arteries were obtained. RESULTS: We found that the swine cerebral circulatory system demonstrated a plexus of very small vessels, rete mirabile, in the base of the brain that was perfused by the ascending pharyngeal artery and reconstituted into the internal carotid artery downstream. CONCLUSION: Because of the presence of the rete mirabile, the swine brain circulatory system is not amenable to selective, intracranial, angiographic catheter-mediated infarction of cerebral arteries. Surgical occlusion of the common carotid or ascending pharyngeal artery, although technically possible, was also excluded as a method of creating reliable, reproducible cerebral ischemia because of the prompt and robust circle of Willis cross-perfusion that was observed on the angiograms.