Summary
The arrangement of collagen and elastic fibers of the membranous part of the interventricular septum (PMS) was studied in hearts from adult humans. Connective bundles formed a network of fairly independent tendons arranged in two layers. The tendinous bundles consisted essentially of type I collagen fibers while type III fibers were visible as a thin network with transversely and longitudinally oriented meshes around the muscle bundles. Cranial and caudal to the PMS were narrow and irregular bands of collagen fibers that apparently represented zones of low resistance to the high blood pressures acting from the left to the right heart chambers. The predominance of fiber bundles arranged in an approximately transverse direction with regard to the arterial cone axis suggests a resistance to enlargement resulting from high aortic blood pressure. Elastic fibers were observed in the transitional zone between the cardiac muscle and the PMS. They were continuous with elaunin fibers and these with oxytalan fibers closely intermingled with the narrow network of type I collagen fibers of the PMS. The successive transformation of elastic fibers, which were very numerous in the muscle-tendon transition, into elaunin and these into oxytalan fibers toward the central portions of the PMS suggests a functional sequence characterized by a high elasticity and consequent mobility of the transition region itself and by a progressive increase of resistance in this portion.
Résumé
La disposition du collagène et des fibres élastiques de la partie membraneuse du septum interventriculaire (PMS) a été étudiée sur le coeur d' adultes humains. Des faisceaux conjonctifs forment un réseau de tendons indépendants disposés en deux couches. Les faisceaux tendineux sont constitués essentiellement par des fibres collagènes de type I tandis que des fibres de type III réalisent un réseau à fines mailles transversales et longitudinales autour des fibres musculaires. Crânialement et caudalement à la PMS se situent des bandes étroites et irrégulières de fibres de collagène qui semblent représenter des zones de moindre résistance aux hautes pressions sanguines que les cavités cardiaques gauches exercent sur les cavités droites. La prédominance de fibres disposées en faisceaux perpendiculaires à l'axe du cône artériel fait penser qu'elles ont pour rôle de s'opposer aux hautes pressions artérielles aortiques. Des fibres élastiques ont été observées dans une zone de transition entre le myocarde et la PMS : elles étaient en continuité avec des fibres d'élaunine, ces dernières se prolongeant par des fibres d'oxytalane intimement intriquées avec l'étroit réseau de fibres collagènes de type I de la PMS. Ces transformations successives des fibres élastiques, qui apparaissent très nombreuses au niveau de la transition musculo-tendineuse, en fibres d'élaunine puis en fibres d'oxytalane vers la partie centrale de la PMS suggèrent l'existence d'une séquence fonctionnelle caractérisée par un haut degré d'élasticité, et par conséquent de mobilité, de cette région de transition et par une augmentation progressive de sa résistance à ce niveau.
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Ferraz-de-Carvalho, C.A., Liberti, E.A. The membranous part of the human interventricular cardiac septum. Surg Radiol Anat 20, 13–21 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01628109
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01628109