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Postnatal persistence of spongy myocardium with embryonic blood supply
Insights
Infant hearts can retain embryonic spongy myocardium with a lacunary blood supply, resembling cold-blooded vertebrates. This finding was observed in hearts with malformations or cardiac fibroma.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Pathology
- Developmental Biology
- Comparative Anatomy
Background:
- The embryonic heart exhibits a spongy myocardium with intertrabecular spaces and a lacunary blood supply.
- This embryonic pattern typically regresses in warm-blooded animals during development.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the presence and characteristics of embryonic myocardial patterns in infant hearts.
- To compare the observed myocardial structure with developmental stages and related pathologies.
Main Methods:
- Histological examination of five infant hearts with focal left ventricular abnormalities.
- Microscopic analysis of myoarchitecture and vascular supply.
Main Results:
- Focal embryonic myoarchitecture and lacunary blood supply were identified in the left ventricular wall.
- These features persisted in four hearts with congenital malformations and one with cardiac fibroma.
- Intertrabecular spaces communicated with the ventricular lumen and potentially coronary branches, lined by endothelial cells.
Conclusions:
- The embryonic myocardial pattern can persist into infancy, particularly in hearts with structural anomalies.
- This persistence results in a spongy myocardium resembling that of adult cold-blooded vertebrates.
- This finding offers insights into myocardial development and potential links to cardiac pathologies.
Abstract:
Focal presence of the embryonic pattern of myoarchitecture and of a lacunary blood supply was found in the left ventricular wall of five infant hearts. Four of these hearts showed various malformations; one was a case of cardiac fibroma. The persisting intertrabecular spaces and sinusoids communicated with the ventricular lumen; there appeared to be some communication with the coronary branches. The intertrabecular spaces of the spongy myocardium were lined with a continuous layer of endothelial cells, thus resembling the microscopical appearance of myocardium of adult cold-blooded vertebrates rather than the embryonic phase of myocardial development of warm-blooded animals.