Published in Scientific Works. Series C. Veterinary Medicine, Vol. LXI
Written by Alexandra BLENDEA, Ioana CHIRILEAN, Irina IRIMESCU, Nicolae CORNILĂ, Mihai CORNILĂ, Aurel DAMIAN
Compared to known anatomical data, we appreciate that our observations underline certain particularities of the coronary arteries and their superficial and deep branches in the pig. The study was conducted in the Department of Comparative Anatomy of the USAMV Cluj-Napoca, in collaboration with the Department of Histology and Embryology of Veterinary Medicine Bucharest, on 4 pig hearts samples. The clinically healthy animals aged between 2 to 4 months were commercially slaughtered by bleeding. The hearts were collected with their vessels intact. Using step-by-step dissection techniques we have harvested the 4 hearts, and in two of them we have underlined the origins of the left and right coronary arteries to inject them with a coloring agent (PALUX and red pigment), and the other two hearts were harvested for histological processing. After injecting the coloring agent in the coronary arteries the two hearts were submerged in a 10% formalin solution over a period of 24 hours, to fixate. Histological processing comprised the following steps: sample harvesting, fixation, wash, dehydration, paraffin inclusion, cutting, paraffin removal, hydration, coloring, clarification and mounting. Aside from the deep branches of the superficial coronary arteries, both the paraconal artery, the circumflex artery and the right coronary artery give off direct deep branches for the myocardium and for all of the papillary formations of the atria and ventricles. The histological aspects of the left and of the right coronary arteries are. The elastic fiber density increases with age, and the fibers are more numerous in the external half of the tunica media. In younger ages, the coronary arteries have a muscular type aspect and they present a tendency to become musculo-elastic arteries along with the ageing. The elastin is produces by the smooth muscle fibers of the internal layer of the tunica media, but also by the fibers of the adventitia, situated at the border with the tunica media.
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