ABSTRACT
Objective: To study a congenital malformation of pancreas, the annular pancreas, and openings of pancreatic ducts. This abnormality can cause duodenal obstruction. Methods: The annular pancreas and duodenum of an 86-year-old Thai female cadaver was removed. The length and width of the annular pancreas were measured, as well as the internal diameter of the duodenum at the surrounded part and also the higher level. The openings of pancreatic duct were also carefully observed. Results: The second part of the duodenum was completely surrounded by the pancreatic tissue. The uncinate process extended over the anterior surface of the third part of the duodenum. The differences between the diameter of the duodenum at the surrounded part and at the higher level were 0.2 cm. there is no duodenal obstruction in this case. There were 2 openings of the pancreatic duct which opened to the second part of the duodenum. These ducts situated higher than the normal level, and were the primitive remains of the dorsal and ventral pancreatic buds. Conclusions: Not all the cases of the annular pancreas cause duodenal obstruction. In the cases that the pancreatic tissue loosely surrounds the duodenum, the diameters of the duodenum at the surrounding and at the slightly higher level are nearly the same. The pancreatic openings showed the primitive characters, i.e., there were 2 openings represented 2 origins of the pancreatic buds.
ABSTRACT
The developing heart in this study is focused on serial sections of 4-12 mm golden hamster embryos, which were stained with hematoxylin and observed under a light microscope, compared to 10 mm pig embryos. The developing hearts of Golden hamster and pig embryos are very similar. Although the partition of the hamster’s heart is still incomplete, it is clearly divided into four chambers. Two atria are separated by septum primum which grows ventrally but does not reach the endocardial cushion; the foramen primum still remains in the 4 mm stage. This is just a very minor difference compared to that of the 10 mm pig embryo. This foramen is later closed at the older stage. Two ventricles are incompletely separated by the interventricular septum, remaining the interventricular foramen. The ventricle is connected to the bulbus cordis and truncus arteriosus, draining blood to the aortic sac. This study indicates that the developing heart of a golden hamster embryo can be used as a laboratory model instead of that of a pig embryo in order to study the development of a human heart. This will solve the problem of insufficient pig embryos and maintain the efficacy in the study embryology.