Effect of Gender on Morphohistopathological changes of Basilar Arteries Following Bilateral Common Carotid artery Ligation: An Experimental Study

Aim: Steno-occlusive carotid artery disease causes increased pressure, retrograde blood flow, luminal enlargement, vascular wallthinning, elongation, convolutions, vascular re-modelization, and aneurysm formation in basilar arteries. We investigated if gender affectsthe severity of histomorphologic alterations of basilar arteries after bilateral common carotid artery ligation.Material and Methods: This study was conducted on 7 male and 7 female rabbits. Two of both male and female rabbits were used as acontrol group and the remaining were used as the study group. Permanent ligation of the common carotid arteries from just proximal ofbifurcation was performed to replicate steno-occlusive carotid artery disease. Basilar artery volumes were measured by stereologicalmethods after the sacrifice of the animals at the end of the 3rd week. Results were compared Mann-Witney U test between groups.Results: Luminal enlargement, wall thinning, elongation, convolutions, and doligoectatic configurations were detected in the majority ofbasilar arteries. The mean basilar arterial volume values were estimated as male rabbits were 3.65 ± 0.35 mm3 in control and 4.96 ± 0.99mm3 in the study group. The mean basilar arterial volume values were estimated as female rabbits were 3.97 ± 0.40 mm3 in control and6.32 ± 1.13 mm3 in the study group. The severity of basilar enlargement was significantly higher in the female rabbits compared with themale rabbits (p < 0.01).Conclusion: Bilateral common carotid artery ligation causes more severe luminal enlargement, wall thinning, elongation, convolution, andaneurysm formation in female rabbits than males.Keywords: Bilateral common carotid artery ligation (BCCAL), basilar artery (BA), stereological method