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ALCES SUPPL. 2, 2002  ANTIPOV ET AL. - COMPARATIVE ANATOMY OF HEARTS

7

THE MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SINO-

AURICULAR AND AURICULO-VENTRICULAR NODES IN MOOSE,

CATTLE, PIG, AND HUMAN HEARTS1

Nicholas V. Antipov2, V. A. Golovko3, and A. F. Sinev4

2Medical Institute Donetsk, Ukraine; 3Institute of Physiology, Komi Scientific Center, Ural Division

of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 167610, Syktyvkar GSP, Komi Republic, Russia; 4SRI of

Cardio-Vascular Surgery, Moscow, Russia

ABSTRACT: Comparative-anatomic studies on morphometric characteristics of the heart, cardiac

circulatory system (CCS), and qualitative estimation of specific volumes of CCS structural compo-

nents were conducted.  It was found that the histologic structure of CCS in the investigated species

(moose, calf, pig, and man) differs in size, blood supply, innervation, and in the correlation of specific

volumes of conducting and contracting cardiocytes of connective tissue.  The original data

collected on the structure of moose will help to explain functional characteristics in the moose

electrocardiogram.

ALCES SUPPLEMENT 2: 7-10 (2002)

Key words:  calf, comparative anatomy, circulatory system, heart, man, moose, pig

There are data in the literature con-

cerning the anatomy of the cardiac circula-

tory system (CCS) in cows (Abe 1987),

pigs (Lopes 1976), and man (Sinev and

Krymsky 1987).  However, the structure of

the moose circulatory system has not been

studied, although ECG recordings were

made long ago (Roshchevsky et al. 1976).

Because of this lack of study, a problem

with the comparative anatomy of the car-

diac circulatory system in ungulates living

in different ecological conditions still ap-

pears in biology, physiology, and zoo-veteri-

nary science.

The purpose of this study was to inves-

tigate the morphometric characteristics of

the moose heart, structural and compara-

tive anatomy of its circulatory system, and

to quantitatively estimate specific volumes

of structural components of the cardiac

circulatory system (conducting cardiocytes,

hemocirculatory path, conductive tissue, and

stromatic elements) in moose, calf, pig, and

man.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The objects of the investigation were

moose heart (n = 10), calf heart (n = 12),
and pig (n = 20).  The measurements were
made on the heart mass, wall thickness in

different parts of the myocardium, length of

inflow and outflow parts of the right heart,

and the area of the great vessels.  Paraffin

serial histotopograms (approximately 7 mi-

crons) were stained according to the method

of Van Gizon, Vergoff, and Mallory in

Masson’s modification.  To estimate pecu-

liarities of the circulatory system, blood

supply, and structure of the heart, bone

coronaroangiography and rentgenography

were performed on 12 preparations.  Spe-

cific volumes of structural components of

the cardiac circulatory system were studied

on histopreparations with the application of

1Editor’s note: this manuscript was submitted without references and due to difficulties

contacting the author the manuscript was published without them.