Figure 5
From: Using ex vivo arterial injection and dissection to assess white matter vascularization
Example of the application of the Fibravasc protocol to study the arterial supply of a specific white matter structure: the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFOF). Overview (left column) and enlarged contrasted views (right column, structures outside the area of interest were shaded) of three out of twelve specimens. The territory of the ACA is blue, MCA—red, PCA—green. The frontal segment of the IFOF, anterior to its trunk, was supplied by the MCA and ACA in its posterosuperior and anteroinferior portions, respectively. The relative contribution of the ACA and MCA was susceptible to significant interindividual variability (for example, considerably greater contribution of the ACA in (A)). The IFOF’s trunk was located in the ventral part of the external and extreme capsules, just dorsal to the limen insulae. It was vascularized by the MCA in all specimens. The temporo-occipital segment, which extended from the IFOF's trunk to its posterior endings, was supplied by the MCA and PCA. Branches of the latter contributed to a variable extent to the vascularization of the occipital and parietal posterior endings ((B) shows the smallest territory). For some specimens, we observed a circumscribed area supplied by the PCA (arrowhead) in the anterior portion of this segment (in (C)—the largest, oval-shaped area). ACA anterior cerebral artery, exc external capsule, fp frontal pole, MCA middle cerebral artery, op occipital pole, PCA posterior cerebral artery.
