Characterization of the Arterial Anatomy of the Murine Hindlimb: Functional Role in the Design and Understanding of Ischemia Models
Figure 1
Angiography and CT angiography of the hindlimb.
(A) Mouse caudal body angiogram. Though major vessels are delineated, their branches are not visualized. (B) 3D–CT of frontal view. While the threshold of the vascular image can be varied with CT-value (Hounsfield unit; HU), boxels with over 1000 HU are visualized as enhanced vessels. More vessels are visualized relative to angiography. (C, D) The ventral part of the abdomen and genitals are deleted to highlight better the vessels distributed to the hindlimb. C and D are medial and lateral views of the left hindlimb, respectively. Although a number of feeding branches can be detected, it is not sufficient to understand the detailed vascular anatomy. (1) aorta and vena cava, (2) external iliac artery and vein, (3) femoral artery and vein, (4) popliteal artery and vein, (5) saphenous artery and vein, (6) internal iliac artery and vein, (7) deep femoral artery and vein, (8) proximal caudal femoral artery and vein, (9) feeding vessels to the biceps femoris muscle.