Accelerat ing t he world's research.

Heart anatomy of Giraffa

camelopardalis rothschildi: a case
report
Martin Lima
Veterinární Medicína

Cite this paper Downloaded from Academia.edu 

Get the citation in MLA, APA, or Chicago styles

Related papers Download a PDF Pack of t he best relat ed papers 

Inner vent ricular st ruct ures and valves of t he heart in whit e rhinoceros (Cerat ot herium simu…
Mart in Lima

Anat omy of t he heart of t he beluga whale (Delphinapt erus leucas)

Daniel Mart ineau

Gross Anat omy of t he Heart in t he West ern Grey Kangaroo (Macropus fuliginosus)
WILLIAM DANILO BOT ELLO PEREZ
Veterinarni Medicina, 53, 2008 (3): 165–168 Case Report

Heart anatomy of Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi:

a case report
W. Perez1, M. Lima1, G. Pedrana1, F. Cirillo2
1
Veterinary Faculty, University of the Republic of Uruguay, Montevideo, Uruguay
2
Zoological Garden “Villa Dolores”, Montevideo, Uruguay

ABSTRACT: In the present study the most outstanding anatomical findings of the heart of a giraffe are described.
Two papillary muscles were found in the right ventricle, namely magnus and subarterial. There were no papillary
parvi muscles. The supraventricular crest gave insertion to various tendinous chords. These chords fixed the
angular cusp of the right atrioventricular valve. The pectinate muscles were better developed in the left auricle
than in the right one. Within the left ventricle two big papillary muscles were found as well as a notorious sep-
tomarginal trabecula. The left coronary artery irrigated the majority of the heart’s territory. It gave origin to the
interventricular paraconal branch and to the circumflex branch. The latter gave off the branch of the left ventricular
border and the interventricular subsinosal branch.

Keywords: animal anatomy; heart anatomy; wild animals; Giraffidae; coronary vessels

Several physiologic studies of the cardiovascular the animal was 1 800 kg. After studying the exter-
system of the giraffe were performed in the fif- nal conformation and the distribution of the blood
ties (Goetz, 1955; Goetz and Budtz Olsen, 1955; vessels, both ventricles were cut open parallelly to
Goetz and Keen, 1957; Smith, 1957, Goetz et al., the coronary and interventricular sulci, and both
1960). These authors stated that the heart of the auricles were cut at their free border, with the aim
giraffe is very large, weighing up to 11.3 kg (Goetz, of studying the internal conformation. The termi-
1955). It was also reported that the heart of the nology of the NAV (2005) was employed.
giraffe is heavier in relation to body weight than
in other large mammals and that the walls of the
left and right ventricle measure 7.5 cm and 2.5 cm, RESULTS
respectively (Goetz, 1955; Goetz and Keen, 1957).
In these studies only the weight of the heart and the The heart of the animal that we studied weighed
thickness of its walls are determined, but there is no 4.3 kg. The circumference at the level of the coro-
morphologic description of the giraffe’s heart. nary sulcus measured 60.0 cm. The distance between
The objective of this article is to describe the the pulmonary trunk and the apex measured along
most relevant anatomic features of the heart of a the auricular face was 25.0 cm. The distance from
giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis rothschildi). the coronary sulcus to the apex measured along the
subsinosal sulcus of the atrial face was 28.0 cm. The
interventricular paraconal sulcus crossed the ven-
MATERIAL AND METHODS tricular border 9.0 cm away from the apex.
At the right atrium, the right auricle and its pecti-
The heart obtained from a necropsied animal nate muscles were poorly developed. The right atrio-
at a local zoo was studied following fixation in a ventricular orifice was closed by means of the right
10% formaldehyde solution. The body weight of atrioventricular valve. The latter was tricuspid.

165
Case Report Veterinarni Medicina, 53, 2008 (3): 165–168

Several tendinous chords ran from their insertion

at the supraventricular crest to the angular cusp of
the right atrioventricular valve. The septomarginal
crest was attached to the septal wall at a site near
the base of the supraventricular crest. It measured
7.5 cm in length. One tendinous chord was inserted
directly to the septal wall at a site 0.5 cm away from
the supraventricular crest.
Within the right heart two papillary muscles were
found. The papillary muscle found on the septal
wall, the subarterial papillary muscle, was bilobed.
It received tendinous chords from both the sep-
tal and parietal cusp of the right atrioventricular
valve. The papillary muscle arising from the mar-
ginal wall, magnus papillary muscle, was simple Figure 1. The interior of the left ventricle showing a left
and gave insertion to the septomarginal trabecula. septomarginal trabecula (arrows)
It also received the tendinous chords of the septal
and angular cusp of the right atrioventricular valve. The arterial irrigation of the heart proceeded
There were no papillary parvi muscles. from the two coronary arteries (Figure 2), and the
Almost the entire surface of the inner walls of left coronary artery irrigated the majority of the
the right ventricle was smooth, and the number of cardiac territory.
trabecula carneae was small. Most of them could be The left coronary artery emerged from a large ori-
found in the marginal wall near the magnus papil- fice on the left sinus of the aorta. It divided into the
lary muscle. interventricular paraconal and circumflex branches
The pectinate muscles of the left auricle were devel- (Figure 2). The interventricular paraconal branch
oped very well, much more than in the right auricle. followed the sulcus of the same name along the
The thickness of the left ventricle wall was 4.0 cm.
The widest part of the interventricular septum meas-
ured 4.5 cm. Within the left ventricle there were two
large papillary muscles on the parietal wall. The sep-
tomarginal trabecula and tendinous chords of both
cusps of the left atrioventricular valve were inserted
on the subatrial papillary muscle. The thicker tendi-
nous chords belonged to the septal cusp.
The subauricular papillary muscle also received
the thicker tendinous chords from the septal cusp
and thinner chords belonging to the other cusp.
The septomarginal trabecula proceeded from the
expulsion route of the left ventricle and distally it
ramified sending one branch to the subatrial pap-
illary muscle and several branches to the parietal
wall (Figure 1).
The left atrioventricular valve was bicuspid and
the aortic valve had three cusps. When the cusps of
the aortic valve were opened imitating their posi-
tion during systole, the left semilunar cusp com-
pletely covered the orifice where the left coronary Figure 2. Dorsal view of the valva aorta and coronary
artery originates. arteries. LCA = left coronary artery; RCA = right coro-
Within the cardiac skeleton there was a cardiac nary artery; RIP = ramus interventricularis paraconalis;
bone which occupied most of the right fibrous trig- RC = ramus circumflexus; VSD = valvula semilunaris
one. The left fibrous trigone had a tiny structure dextra of valva aorta; VSS = valvula semilunaris septalis
composed of hyaline cartilage. of valva aorta

166
Veterinarni Medicina, 53, 2008 (3): 165–168 Case Report

A similar structure, although more complex be-

cause of its branching, was found in the left ventri-
cle of the giraffe (Figure 1). These bands have been
named trabeculae septomarginales sinistrae in the
NAV (2005). Moderator bands were described in the
left ventricle (Truex and Warshaw, 1942; Ghoshal,
1975; Gerlis et al., 1984). An excessive, abnormal
number of these bands was associated with cardiac
decompensation in cats (Liu et al., 1982). The bands
usually extended from the papillary muscles to the
interventricular septum in animal hearts (Ghoshal,
1975; Deniz et al., 2004). They were composed of
muscle tissue in various proportions in human and
dog hearts, and of connective and conductive tis-
sue in sheep and goat hearts (Deniz et al., 2004).
According to Truex and Warshaw (1942) they con-
Figure 3. The right atrium (AD) with venous openings tain bundles of fibres derived from the left branch
of vena cordis magna (VCM) and the vena cordis media of the atrioventricular bundle.
(hook inside) The topographic disposition of the atrioventricu-
lar and arterial ostiums, as well as the constitution
auricular face of the heart and gave branches for of the cardiac valves was similar to the descriptions
both ventricles. The circumflex branch followed done for the domestic ruminants (Barone, 1996;
the coronary sulcus and gave the branch of the left NAV, 2005). The fact that it is the left coronary
ventricular border, which it divided distally. Upon artery that is blocked when imitating the systolic
arriving at the subsinosal interventricular sulcus opening of the aortic valve and not the right coro-
the circumflex branch runs along it as the sub- nary artery indicates that the latter one can receive
sinosal interventricular branch. blood during systole, but not so the left artery, this
The right coronary artery had a very small diameter one receiving blood only during diastole.
and travelled a shorter distance than the left one. Furthermore the disposition of the fibrous trig-
The venous system was composed mainly of the onum and cardiac bones was grossly the same as
vena cordis magna and the vena cordis media, both described for ovines and caprines, where the left
of which opened as two separate orifices in the right bone is not present (Barone, 1996).
atrium, at a site ventral to the orifice of the caudal Since the left coronary artery predominates
vena cava (Figure 3). (Figure 2), this animal corresponds to the so-called
left type. This is similar to what happens in rumi-
nants and domestic carnivores (Barone, 1996).
DISCUSSION Moreover the disposition of the venous orifices
of the major and middle cardiac veins within the
The studied heart of the giraffe was quite weight- right atrium (Figure 3) is analogous to what was
less compared with another report that found described in horse (Barone, 1996).
hearts weighing up to 25 lbs (Goetz, 1955). The
studied heart came from an animal with restricted
physical activity. REFERENCES
The most outstanding findings of the cardiac con-
formation belonged to the internal anatomy of the Barone R. (1996): Comparative anatomy of domestic
heart. In the right ventricle there were no papillary mammals. In: Angiology. Vol. 5. Vigot, Paris. 14–102.
parvi muscles, in opposition with what is seen in Deniz M., Kilinc M., Hatipoglu E.S. (2004): Morphologic
domestic animals. study of left ventricular bands. Surgical and Radiologic
The septomarginal trabecula of the right ventricle Anatomy, 26, 230–234.
was similar to that in domestic ungulates, where Depreux R., Mestdagh H., Houcke M. (1976): Comparative
it has been studied in detail (Truex and Warshaw, morphology of the trabeculae septomarginalis in the ter-
1942; Depreux et al., 1976). restrial mammals. Anatomischer Anzeiger, 139, 24–35.

167
Case Report Veterinarni Medicina, 53, 2008 (3): 165–168

Gerlis L.M., Wright H.M., Wilson N., Erzengin F., Dickin- Liu S.K., Fox P.R., Tilley L.P. (1982): Excessive moderator
son D.F. (1984): Left ventricular bands. A normal ana- bands in the left ventricle of 21 cats. Journal of the
tomical feature. British Heart Journal, 52, 641–647. American Veterinary Medical Association, 180, 1215–
Ghoshal N.G. (1975): Equine heart and arteries. In: Getty 1219.
R. (ed.): Sisson and Grossman’s the Anatomy of the NAV (Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria) (2005): 5th ed.
Domestic Animals. 5th ed. Vol. 1. W.B. Saunders, Phil- International Committee on Veterinary Gross Ana-
adelphia, USA. 554–564. tomical Nomenclature (I.C.V.G.A.N.) http://www.
Goetz R.H. (1955): Preliminary observations on circula- wava-amav.org/Downloads/nav_2005.pdf
tion in the giraffe. Transactions. American College of Smith E.L. (1957): The circulatory system of the giraffe.
Cardiology, 5, 239–248. Heart Bulletin, 6, 117.
Goetz R.H., Budtz Olsen O. (1955): Scientific safari: Cir- Truex R.C., Warshaw L.J. (1942): The incidence and size
culation of the giraffe. South African Medical Journal, of the moderator band in man and mammals. Ana-
29, 773–776. tomical Record, 82, 361–372.
Goetz R.H., Keen E.N. (1957): Some aspects of the cardio-
vascular system in the giraffe. Angiology, 8, 542–564. Received: 2007–12–21
Goetz R.H., Warren J.V., Gauer O.H., Patterson J.L., Accepted after corrections: 2008–02–25
Doyle J. T., Keen E.N. McGregor M. (1960): Circulation
of the Giraffe. Circulation Research, 8, 1049–1058.

Corresponding Author:
William Perez, University of the Republic of Uruguay, Veterinary Faculty, Department of Anatomy, Lasplaces 1620,
11600 Montevideo, Uruguay
Tel. +598 26234163, fax +598 26580130, e-mail: [email protected]

168