Trabeculae carneae

The trabeculae carneae (columnae carneae, or fleshy beams), are rounded or irregular muscular columns which project from the whole of the inner surface of the ventricle, with the exception of the conus arteriosus.

Types

They are of three kinds:

• some are attached along their entire length on one side and merely form prominent ridges,
• others are fixed at their extremities but free in the middle,
• while a third set (musculi papillares) are continuous by their bases with the wall of the ventricle, while their apices give origin to the chordæ tendineæ which pass to be attached to the segments of both the mitral valve and the tricuspid valve.

Function

The purpose of the trabeculae carneae is most likely to prevent suction that would occur with a flat surfaced membrane and thus impair the heart's ability to pump efficiently.

The trabeculae carneae also serve a similar function to papillary muscles in that their contraction pulls on the chordae tendineae, preventing inversion of the mitral (bicuspid) and tricuspid valves, that is, their buldging towards the atrial chambers, which would lead to subsequent leakage of the blood into the atria. So by the action of papillary muscles on the atrioventricular valves, backflow of the blood from the ventricles into the atriums is prevented.

See also

• Trabecula

External links

• -1033174980 at GPnotebook
• thoraxlesson4 at The Anatomy Lesson by Wesley Norman (Georgetown University) (heartinternalstructures - "TC" on diagram)
• Diagram at University of Edinburgh -- fourth and fifth diagrams from top

This article was originally based on an entry from a public domain edition of Gray's Anatomy. As such, some of the information contained within it may be outdated.

This cardiovascular system article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v • d • e