Vascular patterns of the saccule of the rat: a microcorrosion cast study.

A scanning electron microscope study of corrosion cast preparations of the vessels of the saccule was carried out in adult rats. This method shows the microvasculature of the saccule in the three-dimensional model. As a result of this technique we have been able to demonstrate a particular microvasculature of the saccule in the rat's inner ear. The main blood supply of the saccule consists of the arterioles coming from the vestibulocochlear artery entering the anterior margin of the macula sacculi. A few branches of the anterior vestibular artery enter the macula sacculi from the superior margin. The saccular vein drains the venous blood from a dense capillary area underneath the striola to the posterior vestibular vein which eventually ends in the vein of the cochlear aqueduct.