Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2014 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: J Inorg Biochem. 2013 May 21;126:35–37. doi: 10.1016/j.jinorgbio.2013.05.007

Figure 1.

Figure 1

Major arterial circulation that supplies blood to the human brain and central nervous system (CNS). It is remarkable that although the average brain is typically only 3% of total body mass, it demands 20–25% of total cardiac output. Major brain arteries include the aorta (aortic artery, AA), the common carotid artery (CCA), the vertebral artery (VA), the internal cerebral artery (ICA), the basilar artery (BA), the posterior cerebral artery (PCA), the middle cerebral artery (MCA) and the anterior cerebral artery; the PCA provides the major vascular supply to the hippocampus; figure adapted from http://stanfordhospital.org/clinicsmedServices/COE/neuro/stroke/patientEducation/whatIsStroke.html.