2012 Volume 46 Issue 2 Pages 221-227
We investigated the divergence point, path, number, and thickness of arterial, venous and ductal branches in rabbit and human submandibular glands using the acrylic resin injection method. The results for the two species were then examined and compared. Ten submandibular glands were obtained from five rabbits. Eight submandibular glands were removed from eight Chinese patients who underwent functional neck dissection for primary oral squamous cell carcinoma. The rabbit and human submandibular gland corrosion casts were examined with a stereoscopic microscope. Digital images were captured and analyzed with imaging analysis/measurement software.
The main arterial, venous and ductal stems reached almost to the center of the gland while decreasing in diameter. The first branches diverged from each main stem at the same points like a tree, and ran parallel to each other in both the rabbits and humans. The second branches diverged from each first branch in the same region like a tree, and ran parallel to each other in both the rabbits and humans. The third branches diverged from the each second branch in a similar pattern for both species. The first, second and third branches of the arteries, veins and ducts all diverged at the same points and ran parallel to each other in both the rabbit and human submandibular glands. The locations of divergence and the course of the arterial, venous and ductal branches in the rabbit submandibular gland were thus extremely similar to those in humans.
