title: Variations in pectoral girdle muscles in dogs.
abstract: Muscle variations take the form of additional muscle bundle or belly, unusual muscle origin or termination, as well as complete muscle absence. Knowledge of such variations not only has clinical importance for guiding surgery, but also can help reveal phylogenetic relationships. To improve our understanding of muscle variations in dogs, 57 medium-sized, cross-breed male and female adult animals were dissected as part of a gross anatomy course between 2005 and 2011. Variations in pectoral girdle muscles were observed in 7 (12.3%) dogs and took the form of an additional muscle bundle in the brachiocephalicus muscle (n = 2), in the omotransversarius muscle (n = 2), in the cervical part of the rhomboideus muscle (n = 2) and in the cervical part of the serratus ventralis muscle (n = 1). Muscle variation was bilateral in only one dog; it involved the omotransversarius muscle. The variations did not seem to be sex dependent. Such variations can appear regularly in dogs and should be taken into consideration during anatomical dissection.
authors: Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Zagreb, Heinzelova 55, 10 000, Zagreb, Croatia.
authors: I
authors: I
authors: Alić
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Trbojević Vukičević
authors: M
authors: M
authors: Đuras
authors: S
authors: S
authors: Kužir
authors: G
authors: G
authors: Fazarinc
authors: V
authors: V
authors: Gjurčević Kantura
mesh_terms: D000009:Abdominal Muscles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D000818:Animals; D064131:Back Muscles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D004285:Dogs / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009334:Neck Muscles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D010369:Pectoralis Muscles / Q000033:anatomy & histology*