Research Information System
Cells Tissues Organs, vol.15, no.1-2, pp.143-156, 1952 (SCI-Expanded)
The liver follows the movements of the diaphragma because the liver is fixed to it. We are of the opinion that the venous vessels of the bver anastomose with those of the diaphragma. During physical exercise the liver follows the movements of the diaphragma. By this a tension is exerted upon it (during inspiration) and afterwards a relaxation (during expiration). We have denominated the tension and the relaxation as the positive resp. the negative phase of the circulation of the liver. During the positive phase the portal veins become stretched in a transverse direction and the hepatic veins in a longitudinal direction. By this the following change takes place in the ramifications and the structure of both the portal and the hepatic veins: 1. The ramifications of the portal veins show angles which are more obtuse than those of the hepatic veins (pict. 4, 5). The thinwalled portal veins are surrounded by periportal connective tissue and they are narrower than the corresponding hepatic veins. 3. The wall of the hepatic veins of any calibre shows a well marked spiral arrangement (smooth muscle) which is not present in the portal veins. 4. A spiral pattern of the vascular wall directed towards the cavity is produced by the muscles in the negative phase (pict. 14). The pattern disappears again in the positive phase on account of the above mentioned mechanism. The spiral pattern is a factor by which the blood flow is directed from the portal area into the area of the hepatic veins. 5. The arrangement of the elastic fibres is different in either type of the veins according to their adaptation to different functions; it is circular in the portal veins and longitudinal in the hepatic veins (pict. 8, 9). © 1952 S. Karger AG, Basel.