Abstract
The origin, course and ramifications, from the origin to the mandibular foramen, of the inferior alveolar artery of the rabbit were studied by the acryl plastic injection method. In particular, the relations between the posterior deep temporal and the inferior alveolar arteries in their origin were clarified. The inferior alveolar artery was found to arise from the maxillary artery via a common trunk with the posterior deep temporal artery at the posterior end of the origin of the medial pterygoid muscle, although the posterior deep temporal appeared as a branch of the inferior alveolar. This common trunk ran laterally, and gave rise to the medial and lateral pterygoid branches as well as small twigs to the otic ganglion and the tympanic bulla. It thus reached the meeting area between the inferior margin of the lateral pterygoid muscle and the posterior margin of the medial pterygoid muscle, where it divided into the inferior alveolar artery anteroinferiorly and the posterior deep temporal artery superiorly. The inferior alveolar artery gave off the lingual branch, the temporal branch and the anterior marginal branch, and sometimes the deep layer branch, between the pars orbitalis ventralis of the temporal muscle and the deep layer of the medial pterygoid muscle.
