Anatomy of the ventricular coronary arteries in the dog. Circ Res

THE DOG is used a great deal in physio-logical and surgical research on the heart. In view of this, it is surprising that information with regard to the anatomy of the coronary S3rstem is somewhat incomplete and inconsistent. This may account for the variations reported in mortality rate from acute ligations. A right descending coronary artery is described by Bradley1 which is not confirmed by other investigators.2 ' 3 Pianetto describes the left coronary artery as being much more important in the dog, resulting in a left preponderance of arterial supply to the myocardium.3 The origin of the septal artery is in dispute;2'4- 5 furthermore, its descrip-tion is not complete. The present study was undertaken to delineate the coronary arterial supply to the myocardium, to evaluate vascu-lar preponderance, and to provide a workable nomenclature of the coronary arterial dis-tribution of the dog. Methods Studies were performed on 60 canine hearts. Following sacrifice of the animal with a large dose of pentobarbital sodium, the heart was re-moved and washed in saline. Direct dissections, limited to the myocardium, were carried out on the principal branches and subdivisions. The prin-cipal divisions of the coronary vessels were visu-alized with Urokon. In a number of hearts, the individual arteries were injected with different colors of vinyl plastic material. After fixation the vessels were dissected free of the plastic so that the precise areas of the myocardium supplied could be discerned. Other hearts, after injection, were placed in sodium or potassium hydroxide for digestion of the soft tissue. For purposes of description, the heart is con-sidered to have an anterior and a posterior aspect, a base, and an apex. The right and left ventricles are divided anteriorly by the anterior longitudina