Arteries of the Cervical Spinal Cord in the European Hare

The aim of this study was to describe the blood supply to the cervical spinal cord in the European hare using the dissection technique. This study was carried out on 10 adult European hares. The arterial system of the cervical spinal cord was injected using Batson’s corrosion casting kit No. 17. The presence of the ventral radicular branches of the rami spinales entering the ventral spinal artery in the cervical region was observed in 62.1 % as left-sided and in 37.9 % of the cases as right-sided. There were two dorsal spinal arteries located on the dorsal surface of the cervical spinal cord in 70 % of the cases, and no dorsal spinal artery in 30 % of the cases. The presence of the ventral radicular branches of the rami spinales that reached the spinal cord, was observed in 66.2 % of the cases on the left side and in 33.8 % of the cases on the right side. Based on our results, we can conclude that there is high variability of the blood supply to the cervical spinal cord in the European hare.