Territories of the perforating (lenticulostriate) branches of the middle cerebral artery

The territories of the central branches of the middle cerebral artery (MCA) were examined in 21 injected human brains. It was noted that these central arteries supplied: the caudate nucleus (dorsolateral half of the rostral p art of its head; the entire caudal part of the head; the body and rostral p ortion of the tail in some cases), the putamen (dorsolateral part of its ro stral portion, the remainder of the putamen, except the most caudal part oc casionally), the globus pallidus (the entire lateral segment, except the ve ntrorostral and, sometimes, the most caudal part), the basal forebrain (lat eral parts of the basal nucleus of Meynert and the nucleus of the diagonal band, as well as fiber bundles in this region), the internal capsule (dorsa l and ventrocaudal part of the anterior limb, dorsal part of the genu, dors al and ventrorostral part of the posterior limb), the corona radiata (a nar row strip close to the internal capsule) and the cerebral cortex (the cauda l orbitofrontal cortex occasionally). The presented data may have certain n euroradiologic, neurologic and neurosurgical significance.