visceral mass

Examples of visceral mass in the following topics:

• Phylum Mollusca

  • Mollusks have a soft body and share several characteristics, including a muscular foot, a visceral mass of internal organs, and a mantle.
  • In spite of their tremendous diversity, however, they also share a few key characteristics, including a muscular foot, a visceral mass containing internal organs, and a mantle that may or may not secrete a shell of calcium carbonate .
  • The visceral mass is present above the foot in the visceral hump.

• Glossopharyngeal (IX) Nerve

  • It receives visceral sensory fibers from the carotid bodies, carotid sinus.
  • Visceral motor (general visceral efferent): Provides parasympathetic innervation of the parotid gland.
  • Visceral sensory (general visceral afferent): Carries visceral sensory information from the carotid sinus and body.

• Autonomic Reflexes

  • Autonomic reflexes are unconscious motor reflexes relayed from the organs and glands to the CNS through visceral afferent signaling.
  • The autonomic nervous system (ANS, visceral nervous system, or involuntary nervous system) is the part of the peripheral nervous system that acts as a control system.
  • It functions largely below the level of consciousness, and controls visceral functions.
  • General visceral afferent sensations are mostly unconscious, visceral motor reflex sensations from hollow organs and glands that are transmitted to the CNS (see the following illustration for a depiction of a typical nerve fiber, including general visceral afferent fibers).
  • The pain is usually referred to dermatomes that are at the same spinal nerve level as the visceral afferent synapse.

• Branches of Spinal Nerves

  • The dorsal ramus: Contains nerves that serve the dorsal portions of the trunk carrying visceral motor, somatic motor, and sensory information to and from the skin and muscles of the back.
  • The ventral ramus: Contains nerves that serve the remaining ventral parts of the trunk and the upper and lower limbs carrying visceral motor, somatic motor, and sensory information to and from the ventrolateral body surface, structures in the body wall, and the limbs.
  • The rami communicantes: Contain autonomic nerves that carry visceral motor and sensory information to and from the visceral organs.

• Animal Characterization Based on Features of Embryological Development

  • The mesoderm, the third germ layer forming between the endoderm and ectoderm in triploblasts, gives rise to all muscle tissues (including the cardiac tissues and muscles of the intestines), connective tissues such as the skeleton and blood cells, and most other visceral organs such as the kidneys and the spleen.
  • This coelomic cavity represents a fluid-filled space that lies between the visceral organs and the body wall.
  • The coelom of most protostomes is formed through a process called schizocoely, when a solid mass of the mesoderm splits apart and forms the hollow opening of the coelom.

• Localization of Pain

  • Localization of pain is determined by whether the pain is superficial somatic, visceral, or deep somatic.
  • Nociceptive pain may also be divided into visceral, deep somatic, and superficial somatic pain.
  • Visceral structures are highly sensitive to stretch, ischemia, and inflammation, but relatively insensitive to other stimuli that normally evoke pain in other structures, such as burning and cutting.
  • Visceral pain is diffuse, difficult to locate, and often referred to a distant, usually superficial, structure.

• Leishmaniasis

  • Leishmaniasis is caused by the protozoan parasite Leishmania and presents itself in two forms: cutaneous or visceral leishmaniasis.
  • There various types of leishmaniasis that exist including cutaneous leishmaniasis, systemic, or visceral leishmaniasis.
  • Systemic or visceral leishmaniasis present as an infection of the entire body.
  • In combination, cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis are caused by more than 20 different leishmanial species.

• Pericardium

  • The inner layer is known as the visceral layer, which covers and protects the great vessels and heart.
  • The space between the parietal and visceral layers is called the pericardial cavity.
  • The visceral layer is referred to as the epicardium in the areas where it is in direct contact with the heart.
  • The space between these two serous layers, the parietal and the visceral, is the pericardial cavity, which contains pericardial fluid.
  • The pleural and pericardial cavities are exaggerated since normally there is no space between parietal and visceral pleura and between pericardium and heart.

• Autonomic Plexuses

  • Autonomic plexuses are formed from sympathetic and parasympathetic fibers that innervate and regulate the overall activity of visceral organs.
  • Autonomic plexuses are formed from sympathetic postganglionic axons, parasympathetic preganglionic axons, and some visceral sensory axons.
  • It supplies the bronchial tree and the visceral pleura.
  • The esophageal plexus is formed by nerve fibers from two sources: the branches of the vagus nerve and the visceral branches of the sympathetic trunk.

• Serosa

  • For the heart, the surrounding serous membranes include: outer, inner, parietal pericardium and visceral pericardium (epicardium).
  • Early in embryonic life, visceral organs develop adjacent to a cavity and invaginate into the bag-like coelom.
  • The layer in contact with the organ is known as the visceral layer, while the parietal layer is in contact with the body wall.