Alexandra Irimie; Cristian Martonos; Elena Cotîrla; Cosmin Rares Cret; Cristian Ratiu; Ana Hîruta & Miclaus Viore

To highlight the vasa vasorum within the goat aorta media, sections of the ascending aorta, aortic arch, thoracic descending aorta, and abdominal descending aorta were obtained from eight goats. Histological analysis revealed the presence of vasa vasorum across all the studied segments, albeit with variations in both quantity and caliber depending on their proximity to the heart. Notably, the ascending aorta exhibited the greatest number and largest caliber of vasa vasorum, with a gradual decrease observed toward the abdominal descending aorta, where they were fewer and smaller in size. Spatially, vasa vasorum were predominantly located in the outer two-thirds of the media in the ascending aorta and aortic arch, in the outer half of the media in the thoracic descending aorta, and only in the outer third in the abdominal descending aorta. The abundance of vasa vasorum and their significant caliber, particularly in the initial segments, leads us to believe that the goat aorta undergoes more exertion than most mammalian species. A plausible explanation could be the additional metabolic demand imposed by the unique organs present in goats, such as the rumen, reticulum, and omasum, which are absent in many other mammals.

KEY WORDS: Vasa vasorum; Aorta; Capra hircus.

IRIMIE, A.; MARTONOS, C.; COTÎRLA, E.; CRET, C.R.; RATIU, C.; HÎRUTA, A. & VIOREL, M. The presence and distribution of vasa vasorum in the media of the aorta in the goat (Capra hircus). Int. J. Morphol., 43(5):1498-1502, 2025.