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Home  »  Anatomy of the Human Body  »  pages 532

Henry Gray (1825–1861). Anatomy of the Human Body. 1918.

pages 532

by intervening layers of fibrous tissue: their central parts are thick and strong, their marginal portions thin and translucent, and in the angles between the latter small intermediate segments are sometimes seen. Their bases are attached to a fibrous ring surrounding the atrioventricular orifice and are also joined to each other so as to form a continuous annular membrane, while their apices project into the ventricular cavity. Their atrial surfaces, directed toward the blood current from the atrium, are smooth; their ventricular surfaces, directed toward the wall of the ventricle, are rough and irregular, and, together with the apices and margins of the cusps, give attachment to a number of delicate tendinous cords, the chordæ tendineæ.


FIG. 494– Heart seen from above. (See enlarged image)


FIG. 495– Base of ventricles exposed by removal of the atria. (See enlarged image)
  The trabeculæ carneæ (columnœ carneœ) are rounded or irregular muscular columns which project from the whole of the inner surface of the ventricle, with the exception of the conus arteriosus. They are of three kinds: some are attached along their entire length on one side and merely form prominent ridges, others are fixed at their extremities but free in the middle, while a third set (musculi papillares) are continuous by their bases with the wall of the ventricle, while their apices give origin to the chordæ tendineæ which pass to be attached to the segments of the tricuspid valve. There are two papillary muscles, anterior and posterior: of these, the anterior is the larger, and its chordæ tendineæ are connected with the anterior and posterior cusps of the valve: the posterior papillary muscle sometimes consists of two or three parts; its chordæ tendineæ are connected with the posterior and medial cusps. In addition to these, some chordæ tendineæ spring directly from the ventricular septum, or from small papillary eminences on it, and pass to the anterior and medial cusps. A muscular band, well-marked in sheep and some other animals, frequently extends from the base of the anterior papillary muscle to the ventricular septum. From its attachments it may assist in preventing overdistension of the ventricle, and so has been named the moderator band.
  The pulmonary semilunar valves (Fig. 494) are three in number, two in front and one behind, formed by duplicatures of the lining membrane, strengthened by fibrous tissue. They are attached, by their convex margins, to the wall of the artery, at its junction with the ventricle, their free borders being directed upward into the lumen of the vessel. The free and attached margins of each are strengthened