Corpus: Vaginal artery

The vaginal artery is a branch of the internal pudendal artery or internal iliac artery and supplies the vagina in domestic mammals. It is the counterpart to the prostatic artery in males.

The origin of the vaginal artery differs between animal species:

• In carnivores and horses, it originates in the area of the incisura ischiadica major cranial to the spina ischiadica from the arteria pudenda interna.
• In pigs, on the other hand, it emerges from the internal iliac artery medial to the iliac spine and in ruminants at the level of the hip joint.

Course[Bearbeiten]

As the vaginal artery in cattle originates laterally on the sacrotuberous ligament, the artery only enters the pelvic cavity after passing through the ligament. In all domestic mammals, it then runs laterally along the peritoneum of the pelvic cavity to the vagina.

Arteries[Bearbeiten]

As the vaginal artery travels from its area of origin to the vagina, it releases several vessels:

• Ramus uterinus (ruminant, pig, horse) or uterine artery (carnivore).
• Arteria rectalis media (supplies the ventrolateral area of the ampulla recti)
• perineal artery (goat, cattle)

• Nickel, Richard, August Schummer, Eugen Seiferle. Volume III: Circulatory system. Textbook of the anatomy of domestic animals. Parey, 2004.