RT Conference Proceedings
T1 Pigmentation of the heart in the bichir, polypterus senegalus.
A1 Durán, Ana C.
A1 Reyes-Moya, Ismael
A1 Torres-Prioris, Agustina María
A1 Machuca, Ángela
A1 Fernández, Borja
A1 Sans-Coma, Valentín
K1 Polypteriformes - Anatomía
AB The presence of melanin-containing cells in the heart has been documented in tetrapods,but not in fish. It has been even suggested that dark pigmented cells are exclusivelyassociated with hearts having two atria and two ventricles. The aim here is to report theoccurrence of pigment cells in the heart of the bichir, an extant representative of thepolypteriformes, an ancient ray-finned fish lineage that split from the stem of theactinopterygians soon after their divergence from the sarcopterygians. The bichir heartis composed of sinus venosus, atrium, ventricle, conus arteriosus and bulbus arteriosusarranged sequentially within the pericardial cavity. Dendritic-shaped cells containingmelanosomes were found in the five cardiac components of the 12 bichirs included inthis study. Numerous melanophores were distributed regularly over the surface of allsegments having myocardium in their walls, thus resulting in a marked pigmentation ofthe whole heart. The bulbus arteriosus, which in the bichir is reduced in size, showed aneven more intense pigmentation. In all instances, the melanophores were localized inthe subepicardial space. Pigment cells also occurred in the pericardium and ventralaorta. The functional role of melanocytes in the tetrapod heart remains obscure. Antiinflamatoryactivity, cytoprotection and effects on the viscoelastic properties of thecardiac tissue have been adduced as possible actions of such cells. The role of pigmentcells in the bichir heart constitutes a new open question. Interestingly, however, the onlycells that have been shown to form melanin-containing cells in the heart derive from theneural crest. If the melanophores of the bichir heart are indeed of neural crest origin, itwould suggest a much more extensive contribution and persistence of elements from theneural crest in the primitive heart of jawed vertebrates as assumed so far in most papersdevoted to vertebrate heart embryology.
YR 2013
FD 2013-07-26
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10630/5658
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10630/5658
LA eng
NO El resumen aparece en el Program & Abstracts of the 10th International Congress of Vertebrate Morphology, Barcelona 2013. Anatomical Record, Volume 296, Special Feature — 1: P-078.
NO Proyecto CGL2010-16417/BOS; Fondos FEDER; Beca FPI ref. BES-2011-046901.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 20 ene 2026