Arterial vascularisation of pig’s auditory tube with respect to a. palatina ascendens – a corrosion cast and morphometric study

The aim of this study was to determine species-specific features of arterial vascularisation of the auditory tube of domestic pigs as a segment connecting the nasopharynx and the middle ear with regard to the increasing role of pigs as most appropriate model of human biomedical research. The arterial branches involved in the vascularisation of the auditory tube were described on corrosion casts. It was found out that in the direction of the middle ear, the tube received blood from branches of a. palatina ascendens, a. meningea media, a. temporalis profunda caudalis and rete mirabile epidurale rostrale, out of which the first of enumerated arteries was the most involved. In the majority of cases (87.5%) it gave off two branches that ramified in the lateral and medial walls of the tube. For the first time, it was demonstrated that a. palatina ascendens was separated from the facial artery and not from a. lingualis. The measurements on casts showed that the diameter of left a. palatina ascendens was statistically significantly larger than right one in both sexes, and that average diameters of either right or left arteries were larger in males. The results allowed concluding that a. palatina ascendens was predominantly involved in the arterial blood supply of porcine auditory tube.