The distribution of the hepatic arterial branches in capybara's (Hydrochaerus hydrochaeris) liver was studied in 30 animals. After arterial injection with stain natural latex, the organs were fixed in formaldehyde 10%, dissected and schematized. The lobation of the liver in these animals, is similar to the one of the swine, allowing to identify the following lobes: right lateral, right medial, quadrate, left medial, left lateral and caudate (processes caudate and papillary). The hepatic artery is divided more frequently (73.3%) in the branches right and left and in lesser number of preparations (26.6%), the vessel gives three resulting in the branches right, intermediate and left. These vessels reach, under different arrangements the lobes of the liver, when appears coincident passages with the one of the biliferous ways and portal vein, allowing in this way establish an port-bilio-arterial division.
liver; capybara; hepatic artery; rodent; anatomy
