Arterial blood supply of the testicle in pigs

Abstract

The arterial blood supply of 30 pairs of swines testicles were studied. The animals 6 to 10 months old were obtained from the “Campus Administrativo de Pirassununga, Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia - USP” and from “Seara Industrial de Xanxerê S/A - Santa Catarina”. The testicular artery was injected with vinyl in order to obtain arterial models. In 50% of the preparations the testicular artery showed a variable number of lateral and medial branches; in 31.7% there was predominance of lateral branches. On the remaining 18.3% it was observed predominance of the medial branches. In 43.3% the testicular artery originated two branches, a lateral and a medial. In 30.0% of the preparations there was predominance of the medial branch, while the lateral one predominated on 13.3%. On the remaining 6.7% of the organs the testicular artery gave a dorsal branch and a ventral branch, the later prevailing on the vascularization of the organ. Concerning to the number and distribution of the arterial penetrant vessels, as analysed by the median method, it was possible to observe little differences among quadrants on the various models studied. When the testicular artery originated a variable number of lateral and medial branches (50%), it was possible to observe the presence of penetrant vessels that starting from the branching point reach oposite quadrants to the principal destination of the original artery. In 20.0% of the preparations when the division resulted in a lateral branch and a medial one, there were additional branches originating from the testicular artery prior to its division point. In 59 models (95.0%) anastomosis between the testicular artery and its main branches of theirs collaterals were identified. Those anastomosis were observed under thin albuginea and in the caudal face of the organ generally. Other anastomosis were noted between branches of the testicular and epididymary arteries. There were no significant differences among median values (P>0,05) of total number of penetrant vessels of the right or the left testicles.