Fibrous rings

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fibrous rings
Latin annulus fibrosus dextercordis, annulus fibrosus sinister cordis
Gray's subject #138 536
Dorlands/Elsevier a_50/12143716

The fibrous rings surround the atrioventricular and arterial orifices, and are stronger upon the left than on the right side of the heart.

The atrioventricular rings serve for the attachment of the muscular fibers of the atria and ventricles, and for the attachment of the bicuspid and tricuspid valves.

The left atrioventricular ring is closely connected, by its right margin, with the aortic arterial ring; between these and the right atrioventricular ring is a triangular mass of fibrous tissue, the trigonum fibrosum, which represents the os cordis seen in the heart of some of the larger animals, as the ox and elephant.

Lastly, there is the tendinous band, already referred to, the posterior surface of the conus arteriosus.

The fibrous rings surrounding the arterial orifices serve for the attachment of the great vessels and semilunar valves.

Each ring receives, by its ventricular margin, the attachment of some of the muscular fibers of the ventricles; its opposite margin presents three deep semicircular notches, to which the middle coat of the artery is firmly fixed.

The attachment of the artery to its fibrous ring is strengthened by the external coat and serous membrane externally, and by the endocardium internally.

From the margins of the semicircular notches the fibrous structure of the ring is continued into the segments of the valves.

The middle coat of the artery in this situation is thin, and the vessel is dilated to form the sinuses of the aorta and pulmonary artery.


This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained herein may be outdated. Please edit the article if this is the case, and feel free to remove this notice when it is no longer relevant.

Cardiovascular system - Heart - edit
atria (interatrial septum, musculi pectinati) | ventricles (interventricular septum, trabeculae carneae, chordae tendinaepapillary muscle) | valves

base | apex | grooves (coronary/atrioventricular, interatrial, anterior interventricula, posterior interventricular) | surfaces (sternocostal, diaphragmatic) | borders (right, left)

right heart(vena cavaecoronary sinus) → right atrium (auricle, fossa ovalis, limbus of fossa ovalis, crista terminalis, valve of the inferior vena cava, valve of the coronary sinus) → tricuspid valve → right ventricle (conus arteriosus, moderator band/septomarginal trabecula)  → pulmonic valve  → (pulmonary artery and pulmonary circulation)

left heart: (pulmonary veins)left atrium (auricle) → mitral valveleft ventricleaortic valve (aortic sinus) → (aorta and systemic circulation)

pericardium  (sinus) | epicardium | endocardium | myocardium | cardiac skeleton (fibrous trigone, fibrous rings)

conduction systemcardiac pacemaker | Purkinje fibers | bundle of His | SA node | AV node