[Variability of the celiac artery and its branches in sheep]

Contrast matter was used with a total of 363 sheep fetuses, newborn lambs, and adult sheep to study the variability of the coeliac artery and its branches. It was found that the artery and some of its branches, such as arteria ruminalis sinistra, arteria reticularis, and arteria lienalis often showed variations, resp., deviations in their branching and distribution. Others, such as arteria ruminalis dextra and arteria hepatica showed no variations whatever. Both the coeliac artery and the anterior intestinal artery in the sheep were most often shown to branch from the aorta alone (in 71.07 per cent of the cases) as against the rarely observed common truncus coeliacomesentericus (in 28.93 per cent of the cases). The most commonly observed form of branching of arteria coeliaca seemed to be tripus coeliacus, while the branching with the formation of a short truncus hepatogastricus was comparatively a rare phenomenon. It was also established that the left ruminal artery was much more frequently the branch of truncus lienoruminalis than the branch of arteria gastrica sinistra. So far as the place in which arteria reticularis arose three variants were observed. Most frequently this artery was shown to be the branch of arteria gastrica sinistra.