The cavernous body of the human efferent tear ducts: function in tear outflow mechanism.

Purpose: To determine the structure and function of a system of large blood vessels integrated in the bony canal between the orbit and the inferior nasal duct.

Methods: Thirty-one dissected lacrimal systems of adults were analyzed by using gross anatomy, histology, and electron microscopy as well as corrosion vascular casts.

Results: More than two thirds of the bony canal between orbit and inferior nasal duct is filled by a plexus of wide-lumened veins and arteries.

Innervation of the cavernous body of the human efferent tear ducts and function in tear outflow mechanism.

The lacrimal sac and nasolacrimal duct are surrounded by a wide cavernous system of veins and arteries comparable to a cavernous body. The present study aimed to demonstrate the ultrastructure of the nervous tissue and the localisation of neuropeptides involved in the innervation of the cavernous body, a topic not previously investigated. Different S-100 protein antisera, neuronal markers (neuron-specific enolase, anti-200 kDa neurofilament), neuropeptides (substance P, neuropeptide Y, calcitonin gene-related peptide, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide) and the neuronal enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase were used to demonstrate the distribution pattern of the nervous tissue.

[Unusual contrast medium distribution in the left ventricular myocardium in infants with a high degree of aortic valve stenosis and endocardial fibroelastosis. Pathologico-morphologic findings].

In 5 newborn infants with severe valvular aortic stenosis, left ventricular angiocardiography revealed conspicuous pathologic-morphologic findings consisting of a fine network of contrast medium opacification in the region of the posterior wall. Subsequently performed histologic examination of tissue removed from the involved regions showed, in addition to endocardial fibroelastosis, two structures which were assumed to be the morphologic substrates for the unusual distribution of contrast medium. On the one hand, antler-like spaces with a well-demarcated lining of fibroelastic tissue, similar to the thickened endocardium, were found in the inner half of the left ventricular wall connected to the lumen of the left ventricle through bottle-necked communications.