The cardiac skeleton of the Egyptian Water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis)

Abstract

In the present study, fifteen heart from clinically healthy buffaloes of different ages and both sexes are used to examine the skeleton of the heart. The techniques used are manual dissection, radiographs and Microscopical examination. The skeleton of the heart is composed of a group of fibrous structures encircles the margins of the inflow and outflow orifices of the ventricles in a form of rings. The right and left atrioventricular fibrous rings in addition to aortic and pulmonary rings are formed from collagen fibers. In addition to, the presence of a central fibrous body composed of one fibrocartilage encircled the origin of the aorta and two spongy bones; right and left ossacordis. The ossacordis are absent in the young calves and hyaline cartilage is present instead of the spongy bone. The results are discussed with relatives previous researches.