Myoarchitecture and vasculature of the heart ventricle in some freshwater teleosts

Abstract

The morphological characteristics of the ventricular myocardium and of coronary vascularization were studied in three freshwater teleost species, Piaractus mesopotamicus, Colossoma macropomum and Clarias gariepinus (African catfish), by correlating their ventricular shapes and swimming habits. In Piaractus mesopotamicus and Colossoma macropomum, species with highly active swimming habits, the cardiac ventricle showed a pyramidal shape and a richly vascularized myocardium consisting of an outer compact layer and inner spongy layer. In Clarias gariepinus, a less active species, we observed a saccular ventricle with a mixed myocardium and coronary arteries, in contrast to the ventricular structure of other species described in the literature.

A histological study on the ventricle of convict cichlid, Amatitlania nigrofasciata (Günther, 1867)

“…Depending on their shapes, the ventricle can be differentiated as pyramidal, tubular and saccular (Santer, 1985;Sánchez-Quintana et al, 1995;Simões et al, 2002). The pyramidal ventricles were reported in the members of Salmonidae and Scombridae (Farrell and Jones, 1992;Icardo, 2012); also in Pagellus centrodontus (Sánchez-Quintana et al, 1995), Piaractus mesopotamicus and Colossoma macropomum (Simões et al, 2002).…”

“…While fast-swimming fish have pyramidal ventricle which has mixed type myocardium that consists of compacta and spongious layers; sedentary or less active fish show tubular or saccular ventricles that present entirely trabeculated myocardium. However, Simões et al (2002) reported that a freshwater teleost Clarias gariepinus that mostly inhabit shallow, running water, has a saccular shaped ventricle consisted of mixed type myocardium.…”

“…This type of myocardium of pyramidal ventricle is found in fish with high swimming activity. However, in less active fish that have tubular or saccular ventricles, myocardium is spongy with entirely trabecular muscle (Tota, 1978;Santer and Walker, 1980;Santer et al, 1983;Santer, 1985;Simões et al, 2002).…”

“…Teleost heart morphology and physiology are well studied by numerous authors (Santer, 1985;Satchell, 1991;Farrell and Jones, 1992;Sánchez-Quintana et al, 1995;Burggren et al, 1997;Simões et al, 2002;Icardo, 2012). It consists of four chambers: the sinus venosus, the atrium, the ventricle and the bulbus arteriosus through the blood flow (Santer, 1985;Stainier and Fishman, 1992;Stainier et al, 1993).…”

The Teleost Heart: A Morphological Approach

“…The signi fi cance of the two other morphologies is unclear (Farrell and Jones 1992 ) . Furthermore, the relation between the external ventricular shape and the inner architecture is not constant (Simoes et al 2002 ) . Sac-like ventricles are observed in many marine teleosts, and tubular ventricles are frequently observed in fi sh which, like the eel, present and elongated body shape.…”