RESUMO
To study the structural organization and histogenesis of the cardiac muscle tissue in the walls of human caval and pulmonary veins, the heart was examined in 3 human embryos (at weeks 6-7 of development) and 20 fetuses (at weeks 9-10, 16, 19, 22 and 24 of development), as well as segments of caval and pulmonary veins of adult men and women (n = 50) located at various distances from the heart. The methods of light and electron microscopy were used in this work. To obtain the isolated cells from the walls of caval and pulmonary veins, the method of tissue alkaline dissociation was used. An immunohistochemical study with the monoclonal antibodies against cardiac troponin T was performed. It was found that the cardiomyocytes in humans were located in the middle and outer tunics of caval and pulmonary veins, where they formed thick layers. In the pulmonary veins of the adult humans, cardiac muscle fibers did not reach the intrapulmonary areas, in the inferior vena cava their layer did not extend beyond the pericardium, in the superior vena cava, its length was 2.5-3.0 cm. The formation of the pulmonary vein orifices occured by sequential inclusion of the wall of the common pulmonary vein, and later--of the right and left pulmonary veins into the wall of the left atrium. During the formation of the orifices of the caval veins, the gradual inclusion of the wall of the venous sinus in the wall of the right atrium was observed, resulting in caval veins opening directly into the cavity of the right atrium. The veins studied were referred to the veins of the muscular type with the strong development of muscular elements containing the myocardial component.
