A comparative study of the arterial vasculature of the stomach with special reference to the submucous plexus

A vascular factor may be implicated in the initiation of peptic ulceration.However, a review of the literature showed that information on the gastric and duodenal arterial vascular patterns, though plentiful in man, was scarce in animals. Hence, this study was undertaken to remedy the situation and to seek for particular features which might be implicated in the aetiology of ulceration. The literature describing the arterial vasculature of the stomach and first part of the duodenum in the dog, monkey, cat, pig, rat, guinea pig, rabbit, ferret and dolphin was reviewed. The methods used to investigate the gastric vessels were also assessed. The gastroduodenal arterial vasculature of dogs, monkeys, cats, pigs, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, ferrets and a dolphin was perfused with a contrast medium, the muscularis externa was removed and the mucosa and submucosa were cleared. The topology and dimensions of the vessels were determined, with particular reference to the submucous plexus. In the dolphin and ferret, the extramural arterial vasculature was dissected and examined. This work establishes the vascular architecture of the submucous plexus and the origin of the mucosal arteries in the species named, with the exception of the dolphin, where only the extramural arteries were described. Three notable features emerge. 1. A gradation was found in the relative density of the submucous plexus between the various animals, from the richest in cats to the poorest in guinea pigs and rabbits. 2. In most species, a plexus was found in both the submucosa and the mucosa. There was a spectrum, between the dog, which had only a submucous plexus, through the cat, where both were equally dense, to the rabbit, where most anastomoses were located in the mucosa. 3. In rabbits and guinea pigs, patches of mucosa were found which were supplied by end arteries. These arose outside the gut wall, not from the submucous or mucosal plexus. This work defines certain vascular characteristics of potential animal models for the investigation of the role of end arteries in peptic ulceration. Since end arteries have been reported in man, and their role in the initiation of peptic ulceration has been hypothesized, it provides a specific animal model whereby the vulnerability of mucosa supplied by such an end artery system can tested in vivo