Since the early seventies over 300 studies have used the cremaster mus
cle as a flap model, yet little has been reported on the upstream feed
ing vessels of this muscle. The purpose of this study was to investiga
te the anatomy of the cranial feeding vessels of the left and right cr
emaster muscle in Sprague-Dawley rats. An additional aim was to compar
e these results with the anatomy of the feeding vessels of the cremast
er muscle in another strain (Wistar). To permit identification of the
cranial feeding vessels, the pedicle was dissected very carefully and
thereafter perfused with green dye, which was administered through a c
annula placed in the distal femoral artery. in Sprague-Dawley rats it
was found that the cremaster muscle in only 30% of the animals receive
d its total blood supply through the superior external pudenda artery.
In Wistar rats the same was true in less than 45%. The cremaster musc
le of the rest of the animals appeared to receive its blood either in
part or in total from the hypogastric trunk. We suggest that the name
pudic-epigastric trunk be abandoned. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.