Authors : Ozcan Ozgel , Nejdet Dursun and Cagdas Oto
Abstract: The heads of 6 adult donkeys used in applied anatomy lessons, which were preserved in formalin and which displayed no difference with regard to sex, constituted the study material. In donkeys, the glandula pinealis was determined to be a dark-coloured endocrine gland, either water-drop-shaped or fusiform in shape, situated just in front of both colliculi rostrales, which contribute to the formation of the tectum mesencephali and above the recessus pinealis, in between the corpus geniculatum laterale and colliculus rostralis. The mean craniocaudal, mediolateral and dorsoventral lengths of the pineal gland were measured as 4.56, 4.68 and 12.56 mm, respectively. The pineal gland was ascertained to be supplied mainly by the A. cerebri caudalis, which emanates from both sides of the A. communicans caudalis at an approximate distance of 5.8 mm to the fossa interpeduncularis, just in front of the origin of the N. oculomotorius and at the level of the middle 1/3rd of the crus cerebri. If present, the rami choroidei caudales, which stem from the A. cerebri caudalis and branches given off by the A. communicans rostralis, also contribute to the supply of the gland at the upper part of the glandula pinealis. Furthermore, in one of the cadavers examined, the terminal branches of the A. cerebri caudalis dexter and A. cerebri caudalis sinister, which supply the pineal gland, were determined to anastomose with each other, whereas in two other cadavers, the terminal branches of the indicated arteries were demonstrated to anastomose with the A. communicans rostralis which is enclosed by the pia mater.
Ozcan Ozgel , Nejdet Dursun and Cagdas Oto , 2008. The Morphology and Arterial Vascularization of the Pineal Gland in Donkeys. Journal of Animal and Veterinary Advances, 7: 1511-1514.