Macro-Anatomical Investigations on Arteria Carotis Externa and Its Terminal Branches in Hemşin Sheep Breed

The aim of this research is to investigate the macro anatomy of the arteria carotis externa and its terminal branches which provides the arterial vascularisation of the head region of the Hemsin sheep breed. For this purpose heads of 10 Hemsin Sheep were used as research material Ardanuc Municipality of the province Artvin. It was observed that the branches named a. auricularis caudalis, a. temporalis superficialis, a. transversa faciei were originated from a. carotis externa.It was observed that in 20% of the materials, a. auriculais rostralis branched out from a common stem that belongs to a. temporalis superficialis and a. transversa faciei.It was observed that a. labialis superior and a. labialis inferior branches out from a. transversa faciei at the front edge of m. masseter.It was also observed that a. transversa faciei provided the arterial vascularizastion of only m. masseter.A. profunda linguae, which is the continuation of a. lingualis was observed to perform anastomosis with the similar artery of the opposite side.It was observed that a. alveolaris inferior originates from a.maxillaris and ends as a. mentalis after continuing straight inside canalis mandibularis. It has been observed that a. ophthalmica externa branches out from a maxillaris as one stem and a. malaris branches out form a. infraorbitalis. A. palatina descendens was observed to divide into two branches as a. palatina minor and a. palatina major. As a result of this investigation, even though the external carotid artery on head region of Hemsin sheep are similar to other small ruminants, it was found that there are various differences.