Abstract

Hearts and Heart-Like Organs, Volume 1: Comparative Anatomy and Development focuses on the complexities of the heart and heart-like organs in various species, from the invertebrates and the lower vertebrates to humans. More specifically, it investigates the hearts of worms and mollusks, urochordates and cephalochordates, fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals, and humans.
Organized into 11 chapters, this volume begins with an overview of myogenic hearts and their origin, the circulatory system of the annelids, and the nervous control and pharmacology of mollusk hearts. It then discusses the phyletic relationships and circulation systems of primitive chordates, cardiovascular function in the lower vertebrates, fine structure of the heart and heart-like organs in cyclostomes, and fine structure as well as impulse propagation and ultrastructure of lymph hearts in amphibians and reptiles. It also explains the neural control of the avian heart, functional and nonfunctional determinants of mammalian cardiac anatomy, postnatal development of the heart, and anatomy of the mammalian heart. The book concludes with a chapter on the anatomy of the human pericardium and heart.
This book is a valuable resource for biological and biomedical researchers concerned with the anatomy and physiology of the heart.