The Facial Artery of the Dog

Oka jimas Folia Anat. Jpn., 57(1) : 55-78, May 1980 The Facial Artery of the Dog By MOTOTSUNA IRIFUNE Department of Anatomy, Osaka Dental University, Osaka (Director: Prof. Y. Ohta) (with one textfigure and thirty-one figures in five plates) -Received for Publication, November 10, 1979- Key words: Facial artery, Dog, Plastic injection, Floor of the mouth. Summary. The course, branching and distribution territories of the facial artery of the dog were studied by the acryl plastic injection method. In general, the facial artery was found to arise from the external carotid between the points of origin of the lingual and posterior auricular arteries. It ran anteriorly above the digastric muscle and gave rise to the styloglossal, the submandibular glandular and the pterygoid branches. The artery continued anterolaterally giving off the digastric, the inferior masseteric and the cutaneous branches. It came to the face after sending off the submental artery, which passed anteromedially, giving off the digastric and mylohyoid branches, on the medial surface of the mandible, and gave rise to the sublingual artery. The gingival, the genioglossal and sublingual plical branches arose from the vessel, while the submental artery gave off the geniohyoid branches. Posterior to the mandibular symphysis, various communications termed the sublingual arterial loop, were formed between the submental and the sublingual of both sides. They could be grouped into ten types. In the face, the facial artery gave rise to the mandibular marginal, the anterior masseteric, the inferior labial and the buccal branches, as well as the branch to the superior, and turned to the superior labial artery. As variations, the submental artery arose directly from the external carotid, and an accessory inferior alveolar artery arose from the facial in a few cases. cated course and considerable ramifica- Introduction tions exist before and after it passes General descriptions of the facial artery across the mandibular basis to the face. of the dog were given by Ellenberger The present paper gives precise and de- and Baum (1891) and Miller et al. (1964) tailed descriptions on the course, branch- in their textbooks on the anatomy of the ing and distribution territories of the dog. Detailed observations have not yet facial artery of the dog, briefly discussing been performed for the whole ramifica- comparative features of the vessel in tions of the artery, although the angular other mammalian species, especially the branch of the mouth and the superior relationships between the branching of labial artery were extensively investigated the artery and that of other vessels in by Hanai (1964). the floor of the mouth. The artery takes a somewhat compli- 55 56 M. Irifume Materials and Methods of the lingual and the facial. In the other four cases, the facial artery in all its Acryl plastic injection (Taniguchi et al. course displayed features like the sub- 1952, 1955) was performed in 45 adult mental artery, which is a branch of the dogs through the common caroted arteries. facial, but an artery which showed fea- Forty of the injected heads were treated tures like the usual facial artery arose with sodium hydroxide solution to prepare from the lateral wall of the external corrosion specimens of the carotid system. carotid right proximal to the division be- These were used for statistical assess- tween the superficial temporal and maxil- ment of variations in the facial artery lary arteries (Fig. 3), and the transverse and its ramifications, and also for meas- facial arose from the superficial temporal urement of the vessels. The other five near its origin (Fig. 3). injected heads were preserved in 10% The facial artery ran anteriorly between formalin solution for dissection, and one the styloglossal and medial pterygoid was used to make histological slides by muscles, superomedial to the digastric. decalcification, embedding in celloidin, It gave off the styloglossal branch and serial sectioning at a thickness of 200 pm the submandibular glandular branch, then (50 pm in every tenth section) in the the submental artery (the sublingual ar- frontal plane, and staining with hema- tery of Ellenberger and Baum 1891 and toxylin-eosin. The corrosion casts of the Miller et al. 1964) anteriorly and slightly carotid system, formalin-preserved ma- medially, and continued anterolaterally terials and serial slides were used to de- between the insertion of the digastric and termine the detailed anatomy of the the medial pterygoid, giving off the di- facial artery, its ramifications and rela- gastric, the inferior masseteric and the tionships with surrounding structures. cutaneous branches en route. The artery then came to the face via the facial vas- Results cular notch and passed superoanteriorly between the mimic muscles, where the In most cases, the facial artery arose mandibular marginal branch, the anterior from the external carotid artery between masseteric branch, the interior labial ar- the points of origin of the lingual and tery and the buccal branch originated. posterior auricular arteries. The parent The facial artery finally turned to the artery (2.5-3.5, M. 3.0 mm in diameter) in superior labial artery after curving an- this region arched superolaterally along teriorly along the superior margin of the the superior margin of the digastric buccinator muscle and giving off the an- muscle after giving off the lingual artery gular branch of the mouth and the branch anteroinferiorly in the medial side of the to the superior behind the oral angle. muscle about 10 mm distal to the origin. The facial arteries bilaterally in one In 76 of the 80 examples observed, the head gave off anteriorly the accessory in- facial artery (2.2-3.2, M. 2.9 mm) derived ferior alveolar artery from the superior inferolaterally from the anteroinferior wall when the facial crossed above the wall of the arching between the stylog- submandibular duct anterolaterally (Fig. lossal and digastric muscles in front of 4). This vessel passed anteriorly together the tympanic bulla (Figs. 1, 2). In one of with the parent artery, medial to the the 76 cases, the posterior auricular artery medial pterygoid muscle up to its anterior arose proximal to the origin of the lingual, margin, where it bent superiorly between but no variations were seen in the origins the posterior margin of the mylohyoid The Facial Artery of the Dog 57 and medial pterygoid. It finally entered the styloglossal anterolaterally. In nine the mandibular foramen along and inferior of the 60 cases, the styloglossal arose in to the satellite nerve and displayed the common with the submandibular glandu- usual distribution features such as the lar branch (Fig. 5), and in eight other inferior alveolar artery within the man- cases directly from the external carotid dible. The inferior alveolar artery as near the origin of the facial (Fig. 6). The original vessel, however fine, arose from branch immediately supplied the stylog- the maxillary artery in common with the lossal muscle from its ventral side. In posterior deep temporal and supplied only three of the above 43 cases, a small twig the first and second molar teeth (Fig. 4). of the branch ran ventrally to supply the The facial artery observed in the four digastric (Fig. 7). above-mentioned cases, which arose right 2. Submandibular glandular branch proximal to the termination of the ex This branch (0.41-1.30, M. 0.74 mm) in ternal carotid, passed inferiorly and slight- all 80 examples arose from the infero- - ly laterally between the posterior margin medial wall of the facial (Figs. 1, 2, 6, 7) of the mandibular ramus and the parotid or the submental arising directly from gland. From its anterior wall anteriorly, the external carotid in 75 cases (Fig. 3), it gave off the masseteric branch which in common with the styloglossal branch supplied the posterior region of the inser- (Fig. 5) in nine cases, or in common with tion of the superficial layer of the mas- the pterygoid branch in five cases (Fig. 8). seter. When the artery bent supero- It also arose in common with the digastric anteriorly along the inferior margin of branch of the submental with usual fea- the masseter, two or three medial ptery- tures in five cases (Fig. 9). The glandular goid branches from its superomedial wall branch crossed the submandibular duct and two to four masseteric branches from above the digastric and immediately made the superolateral wall, were derived. The a U-curve posterolaterally up to the glan- former supplied the superficial region of dular hilus along the upper margin of the the insertion of the medial pterygoid. digastric (Fig. 2). The styloglossal or The latter supplied the insertion of the the medial pterygoid branch separated superficial layer of the masseter, of which from the glandular branch at the U-curve a thicker branch may have been the in- (Fig. 8). The submandibular branch sent ferior masseteric branch, which in the twigs to the submandibular duct and the usual case arises from the facial distal to sublingual gland (Figs. 2, 5, 7, 9). the submental artery (Fig. 3). The facial 3. Pterygoid branch artery in these four cases did not reveal This branch (0.31-0.55, M. 0.43 mm) in any unusual features in the face. all 80 examples arose from the superomedial wall when the facial or the sub- Branches : mental arising directly from the external 1. Styloglossal branch carotid crossed anterolaterally above the This branch (0.31-0.50, M. 0.41 mm), one submandibular duct and medial to the in- in number, was seen in 60 of the 80 ex- sertion of the medial pterygoid muscle amples observed. In 43 cases, it arose (Fig. 2). The branch in 47 cases, after from the superior wall of the facial or giving off twigs to the sublingual gland, the submental right distal to their points the oral mucosa or the styloglossal, but of origin (Figs.

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