[Vascular architecture of the caudate nucleus]

The aim of this study is to describe the vascular characteristics of the nucleus caudatus (NC). This study is performed on 30 human brains by injecting the vascular system with gelatinous Indian ink. Examination of serial slices, 250 microns thickness, made translucent by the Spalteholz method, enabled us to follow the course and behavior of the vessels of the NC. The arteries of the NC belong to the group of the central arteries arising from the anterior and middle cerebral arteries or from the anterior choroidal arteries. Inside the different parts of the NC (head, body and tail) the central arteries and their ramifications give rise to a specific vascular network quite similar to this one of the putamen. This network consists of regular, polygonal, rectangular or square meshes. Each mesh is composed by the juxtaposition of vascular units formed by an arterial ring arranged around a principal vein which is surrounded by a capillary free space. The arterioles of the network of the NC are terminal or side branches of the central arteries. They are characteristic in their course by forming rope-like structures (coils) also described on the ramifications of the putaminal central arteries. Similarities between the vascular networks of the NC and the putamen are in relation with the histological structure, with the morphogenetic evolution, with the functional activity. The specificity and the clear delimitation of the vascular networks of the NC and of the putamen are particularly obvious in cerebral vascular diseases leading to infarcts strictly limited to these two nuclei.