BACKGROUND:It is difficult to perform superselective catheterization of the internal carotid artery in dogs because of the large bending and spiral shape of the interal carotid artery before entering into the skul. At present, the dog models of cerebral infarction established by injecting autologous blood clots and gelatin spongevia the internal carotid artery are far from the perspective of pathological mechanism of human patients with cerebral infarction. Aortography can visualize the structure of cerebral vessels and is likely to provide a new condition for the establishment of dog models of acute cerebral infarction. OBJECTIVE:To explore the feasibility of establishing cerebral infarction models in beagle dogs by superselective catheterizationvia the vertebral basilar artery. METHODS: Five beagle dogs were divided into thrombus group (n=3) and control group (n=2). The beagle dogs in the thrombus group were subjected to digital subtraction angiography of the aortic arch, bilateral common carotid arteries and vertebral arteries in addition to femoral arterial catheterization. The 2.7F micro-catheter was inserted into the convergence zone of the left posterior communicating artery and the internal carotid artery through the vertebrobasilar artery. An autologous blood clot was injected into the convergence zone. The dogs in the control group were injected with appropriate amount of contrast medium. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS:Through angiography of the left and right common carotid artery of five dogs, thick external carotid arteries (10/10) and their branches were clearly displayed, however, only five (5/10) internal carotid arteries were dimly present. A spiral vascular loop formed in the internal carotid artery with a smal-sized diameter. Through antiography of the left and right vertebral arteries (10/10) angiography, vertebral basilar artery, the circle of “Wilis”, bilateral posterior cerebral arteries, bilateral middle cerebral arteries and bilateral anterior cerebral arteries were clearly displayed, al these contribute to insertion of microcatheter into the convergence zone of the left posterior communicating artery and the internal carotid artery through the vertebrobasilar artery. High signal intensity of the left temporal lobe was shown on 3-hour and 6-hour diffusion weighted images.The results demonstrate that the beagle dog models of acute cerebral infarction can be successfuly established by injecting autologous blood clots into the left middle cerebral artery through a microcathter insertedvia the vertebrobasilar artery, which provides a new method of precisely occluding the middle cerebral artery of beagle dogs by catheterization.