The thymus is a lymphoid structure of great importance for young animals, excellently acting on the after-birth development and maintenance of their immunologic ability. It has been shown well-developed from the final phase of the prenatal period through the beginning of puberty, and is the largest lymphoid structure with high lymphopoietic function during that period. The objective was to study the arterial vascularization of the cervical part of the thymus of C40 pigs, to supply morphologic information for this structure in animals that are of economical importance in Brazil, and to furnish subsidies for comparative anatomy. Thirty pig embryos, males and females, were used originating from cases of abortion and natural death. Both sides of the cervical lobes of the thymus were found divided during the fetal phase into cranial and caudal portions, joined by an isthmus and situated along the medial face of the mandibulary glands up to the cranial edge of the first pair of ribs. Characteristic for each side of the thymus vascularization is that the cervical lobes of the left side were found irrigated by Arteria subclavia, A. carotida communis, A. thyreoidea caudalis, A. thyreoidea cranialis, A. thyreoidea cervicalis superficialis, A. laryngea caudalis, and A. laryngea cranialis. The cervical thymus lobes of the right side were irrigated by A. carotida communis, A. thyreoidea caudalis, A. thyreoidea cranialis, A. thyreoidea cervicalis superficialis, A. laryngea caudalis, and A. laryngea cranialis.
Arteries; thymus; swine
