Gross Anatomy of The Aortic Valve of Indigenous Cattle (<i>Bos indicus</i>) of Bangladesh

Abstract

The present research work was carried out to study the gross anatomy of the aortic heart valve of indigenous cattle (Bos indicus) for future bioprosthetic use in human in the Department of Anatomy and Histology, Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh during the period from January to December 2004. A total of 32 (thirty two) aortic heart valves of cattle were fixed in 10% formalin for the present study. The components of the aortic valve studied were the aortic leaflets, sinuses, interleaflet (in between the cusps) triangles, aortic root, annulus and ossa cordis. In the present study, the aortic valve leaflets or cusps of the cattle heart were semilunar in shape and three in number e.g. right coronary, left coronary and noncoronary cusp. Each leaflet of the valve had a central lamina fibrosa at their free margin. The lamina fibrosa was most of the thickened part of the cusps in the mid point of the lunula, which forms the fibrous nodules, or corpus arantii of each leaflet. When the valve was closed, the three nodules meet centrally. The leaflets were thicker than those of the pulmonary valve and were attached to the ventricular myocardium by aortic annulus.The aortic root of bovine heart contained the three cusps, sinotubular junction, vulsalva's sinuses, commissures and interleaflet triangles. The left and right coronary arteries were emerged from the left and the right coronary ostium located in the aortic or vulsalva's sinuses of aortic valve respectively. The annulus in the cattle heart had three arches, e.g. anterior arch, left arch and right arch. The findings of the present research work revealed the similarities of the anatomical structures of the aortic valve cusps of the cattle heart as compared with other animals and human being. The variation was only the presence of ossa cordis in cattle species in the present study.

Key words: Gross anatomy, aortic valve, heart, indigenous cattle

doi:10.3329/bjvm.v4i1.1522

Bangl. J. Vet. Med. (2006). 4 (1): 31-37