Morphological analysis of the magna and median cardiac vein valves in swine - DOI: 10.4025/actascihealthsci.v31i1.4583

Abstract

The valves inside veins have an important function in directing blood to the heart. The objective of this research was to perform a macro- and microscopic study of heart vein valves in pig hearts, and establish possible morphofunctional correlations. The hearts of 30 pigs from the Landrace and Large White breeds were used, of both sexes, which were submitted to a morphometric and histological study in a scanning electronic microscope. Valves were found in the interior of the magna and median heart veins in 100% of studied cases. In the hearts used for histological analysis, 291 valves were found, of which 178 were unicuspid (61.17%), 86 bicuspid (29.65%), and 27 tricuspid (9.28%). The valves found in the wall of magna and median heart vein were made up of collagen, elastic and muscle fiber beams. It is concluded that valves are frequently found in the heart veins of pigs, with predominance in the proximal half, both in magna heart vein as in the median heart vein.