Anatomic studies of the circulation in the region of the vertebral end-plate in adult Greyhound dogs.

In order to study the detailed arrangements of vascular terminations in the region of the vertebral end-plate in adult dogs, infusions of Japanese ink mixed with a suspension of barium sulfate were used to produce filling of the vascular terminations at the vertebral end-plates. Radiographs were made of the decalcified specimens. Photomicrographs were prepared from transparent sections embedded in celloidin. The distribution of the large veins within the vertebral bodies was found to be more complex than described earlier. Over the entire bone-disc interface there is a continuous capillary bed that is most dense in the area related to the nucleus pulposus. These vessels drain either into the subchondral postcapillary venous network or directly into the veins of the marrow spaces in the vertebral bodies.