Anatomical study of the arterial blood supply to the thoracolumbar spinal cord in guinea pig

Guinea pigs are frequently used as experimental models in studies of ischemic spinal cord injury. The aim of this study was to describe the arterial blood supply to the thoracolumbar spinal cord in 20 adult English self guinea pigs using the corrosion and dissection techniques. The dorsal intercostal arteries arising from the dorsal surface of the thoracic aorta were found as follows: in eight pairs in 70 % of cases, in seven pairs in 20 % of cases and in nine pairs in 10 % of cases. Paired lumbar arteries were present as seven pairs in all the cases. The occurrence of the ventral and dorsal branches of the spinal rami observed in the thoracic and lumbar region was higher on the left than on the right. The artery of Adamkiewicz was present in 60 % of cases as a single vessel and in 40 % of cases as a double vessel. On the dorsal surface of the spinal cord, we found two dorsal spinal arteries in 60 % of cases and three in 40 % of cases. The presence of the artery of Adamkiewicz and nearly regular segmental blood supplying the thoracolumbar part of the spinal cord in all our studied animals is the reason for using guinea pigs as a simple model of ischemic damage to the thoracolumbar part of the spinal cord.