An actively controlled heart valve

Craig E. Franklin () and Michael Axelsson
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Craig E. Franklin: Department of Zoology and Entomology University of Queensland
Michael Axelsson: University of Göteborg

Nature, 2000, vol. 406, issue 6798, 847-848

Abstract: Abstract Vertebrate hearts typically have cardiac valves that are thin and leaf-like and which work passively, allowing blood to move forward during systole and preventing it from flowing back during diastole. Crocodilian hearts have nodules of connective tissue, resembling opposing knuckles, or cog-teeth1,2,3, in the subpulmonary conus just proximal to the pulmonary valves. Here we show that these cog-teeth act in the estuarine crocodile Crocodylus porosus (Fig. 1) as a valve that regulates the flow of blood between the lungs and the systemic circulation in response to a β-adrenergic mechanism. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an actively controlled intra-cardiac valve in a vertebrate. Figure 1 The estuarine crocodile Crocodylus porosus has an unusual valve inside its heart that can shunt blood away from the lungs. FRANK LANE PICTURE AGENCY/CORBIS

Date: 2000
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DOI: 10.1038/35022652

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