Morphometric measurements have been carried out on the human myenteric esophageal neurons at the ages of 20–40 and more than 70 years. The number of neurons decreases after 70 years of age, which is accompanied by an increase in the sizes of the neurons. In percentage terms the decrease in the number of neurons in the aged varied from 22 to 62% along the esophagus being most pronounced in its superior third at the junction with the pharynx.

Objective: The objective of the present report was to describe the lateral, diagonal and anterosuperior arterial branches in the epicardial adipose tissue of the left ventricle and to analyze their frequency and diameters according to the type of coronary circulation. The precious knowledge of these branches has surgical application in their revascularization or during the injection of the cardioplegic substances into these branches. Method: Fifty hearts obtained at autopsy from adult cadavers were dissected and fixed in formalin and the left ventricle was divided into three thirds: superior, middle and inferior. The lateral branch originated from the circumflex branch, the diagonal branch from the division of the left coronary artery and the anterosuperior branch from the anterior interventricular branch in the superior third of the left ventricle. The length in the epicardium and the diameter of each branch were measured and the blood flow was related to the type of coronary circulation. Results: The diameter of the lateral branch, present in 88% of the cases, ranged from 0.6 to 4.5 mm (mean: 2.1 ± ± ± ± ± 0.7 mm). The diameter of the diagonal branch, present in 50% of cases, ranged from 1.0 to 3.8 mm (mean: 2.2 ± ± ± ± ± 0.7 mm). The diameter of the anterosuperior branch, present in 84% of cases, ranged from 1.0 to 4.1 mm (mean: 2.5 ± ± ± ± ± 0.8 mm). We detected 30/50 (60%) cases of dominance of the right coronary artery, 14/50 (28%) cases of the balanced type, and 6/12 (12%) cases of dominance of the left coronary artery. Mean blood flow in the anterosuperior branch presented a decreasing value in the following types: dominance of the right coronary artery, balanced and dominance of the left coronary artery. Conversely, the lateral branch showed respectively increasing values, while the diagonal branch presented a greater flow in the balanced type. Conclusion: The results demonstrated the complementarity of the lateral, diagonal and anterosuperior arterial branches, as well as the correlation among these branches with the following types of coronary circulation: right dominance, balanced and left dominance.

The number and size of motor units (MUs) in the thenar muscles of 10 fresh adult cadavers (33-74 years old) were estimated by histological methods. The average number of MUs was 161 +/- 26 and the MU size was 93 +/- 11.5. Adductor pollicis showed a significantly greater MU size. The number of MUs in our histological study was in agreement with the number reported in previous studies using multiple point stimulation, the method currently used in the clinical investigation of neuromuscular disorders.