RT Conference Proceedings
T1 The anatomical components of the cardiac outflow tract of the bichir, polypterus senegalus. Evolutionary significance
A1 Sans-Coma, Valentín
A1 Reyes-Moya, Ismael
A1 Fernández-Corujo, Borja
A1 Soto, M. Teresa
A1 Durán-Boyero, Ana Carmen
K1 Polypteriformes - Anatomía
AB In chondrichthyans and actinopterygians, the outflow tract of the heart, namely, thecardiac portion intercalated between the ventricle and the ventral aorta, consists of twoanatomical components: conus arteriosus and bulbus arteriosus. In chondrichthyans andextant representatives of phylogenetically ancient actinopterygian groups, the conus andbulbus are well-developed in size, whereas in most teleosts, the bulbus is markedlylarger than the conus. Current knowledge about the cardiac outflow tract of thepolypteriformes is scarce and highly contradictory, a fact that contrasts with theircrucial phylogenetic position at the source of the actinopterygian lineage. In fact, itremains uncertain whether they have a bulbus at the arterial pole of the heart. Thepresent study aimed to elucidate the anatomical arrangement of the cardiac outflow tractof the bichir in an attempt to improve our understanding of the evolution of thevertebrate heart. We examined the hearts from 12 bichirs using histochemical andimmunohistochemical techniques. Our findings showed that the outflow tract of thebichir consists of two components, namely, a long conus arteriosus, largely composedof myocardial tissue and furnished with a variable number of valves at its luminal side,and a very short, elastin rich bulbus arteriosus, devoid of myocardium. The bulbus hasan arterial-like histological composition. However, it differs from the aorta because ithas a thicker wall, shows a different arrangement of the histological elements, iscovered by the epicardium and is crossed by coronary arteries. The present observationsare consistent with the notion that the conus arteriosus and the bulbus arteriosus havecoexisted from the beginning of the jawed vertebrate radiation. This is of particularinterest, because there is evidence that the bulbus arteriosus, which is a second heartfield derivative, is homologous with the intrapericardial portions of the aorta andpulmonary artery of birds and mammals.
YR 2013
FD 2013-07-26
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10630/5659
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10630/5659
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-077.
NO Proyecto CGL2010-16417/BOS; Fondos FEDER.
DS RIUMA. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Málaga
RD 20 ene 2026