Anatomical study of external carotid artery branches in Sangesari sheep

The differences of anatomical features between animal species matter in conducting research. The purpose of the current study was to investigate the external carotid artery branches in Sangesari sheep. Five mature Sangesar sheep head were obtained from the slaughterhouse. All of the cases were injected with red rodopas prior to fixation. The heads were fixed in 10 % formaline and the branches of the common carotid artery dissected subsequently. The lingual artery is the first branch of the external carotid artery which is divided into deep lingual artery and sublingual artery. The caudal and rostral deep temporal arteries and caudal branch of rete mirabile had a common trunk which was separated from maxillary artery. The terminal part of the maxillary artery was divided into two branches: one branch is a common trunk with infraorbital artery and malar artery; another branch is descending palatine artery. The primary branches of the external carotid artery in sangsari sheep are like sheep and other ruminanats. But the descending palatine is continuation of the maxillary artery which this distribution pattern is like equine.