vitelline veins

(noun)

Veins that drain blood from the yolk sac.

Related Terms

Examples of vitelline veins in the following topics:

  • Sinusoid Development

    • The vitelline veins drain blood from the yolk sac.
    • The superior mesenteric vein opens into the middle or dorsal anastomosis.
    • The portions of the veins above the upper ring become interrupted by the developing liver and broken up by it into a plexus of small, capillary-like vessels termed sinusoids.
    • The liver and veins of a human embryo, 24 or 25 days old, as seen from the ventral surface.
    • (The vitelline veins are visible at the center bottom.)

  • Yolk Sac Development

    • After circulating through a wide-meshed capillary plexus, it is returned by the vitelline veins to the tubular heart of the embryo.
    • This vitelline circulation absorbs nutritive material from the yolk sac that is conveyed to the embryo.
    • At the end of the fourth week, the yolk sac has the appearance of a small, pear-shaped vesicle (umbilical vesicle) opening into the digestive tube by a long, narrow tube, the vitelline duct.
    • As a rule, the vitelline duct undergoes complete obliteration during the seventh week.

  • Development of the Heart

    • While the arterial system develops mainly from the aortic arches, the venous system arises from three bilateral veins during weeks four through eight of human development.
    • The ventral branches of the aorta consist of the vitelline arteries and umbilical arteries.
    • The vitelline arteries form the celiac, superior, and inferior mesenteric arteries of the gastrointestinal tract.
    • The human venous system develops mainly from the vitelline veins, the umbilical veins, and the cardinal veins, all of which empty into the sinus venosus.

  • Development of the Cardiovascular System

    • Finally, the ventral branches of the aorta consist of the vitelline arteries and umbilical arteries.
    • The vitelline arteries form the celiac, and superior and inferior mesenteric arteries of the gastrointestinal tract.
    • The human venous system develops mainly from the vitelline,umbilical, and cardinal veins, all of which empty into the sinus venosus.

  • Veins of the Upper Limbs

    • The major deep veins of the arm are the radial and ulnar veins, which run along the length of their respective bones and merge at the elbow to form the paired brachial vein.
    • The major superficial veins of the upper limb are the cephalic, median cubital and basilic veins.
    • The basilic vein follows a similar path but is located medially to the cephalic vein.
    • At the shoulder, the basilic vein passes deep into the arm and merges with the brachial veins to form the axillary vein, to which the cephaliac vein merges, forming the subclavian vein.
    • The deep veins are shown in blue.

  • Veins of the Head and Neck

    • The superficial external jugular vein is formed from the retromandibular vein and the posterior auricular vein at a point adjacent to the mandible.
    • The external jugular vein passes down the neck and underneath the clavicle before draining into the subclavian vein.
    • Upon exiting the neck, the internal jugular vein merges with the subclavian vein to form the brachiocephalic vein.
    • Additional veins such as the occipital, deep cervical, and thyroid veins drain directly into the brachiocephalic vein.
    • The veins of head and neck are labeled in blue, with an arrow pointing to the auricular vein.

  • Veins of the Lower Limbs

    • The posterior and anterior tibial veins return blood from the calf, ankle, and foot and merge into the popliteal vein behind the knee.
    • The popliteal vein then carries blood from the knee joint up through the thigh.
    • The femoral vein merges with the great saphenous vein in the groin to form the external iliac vein.
    • Running the full length of the leg, making it the longest vein in the body, the great saphenous vein is a superficial vein that returns blood from the foot and superficial muscles of the leg before merging with the femoral vein to form the external iliac vein.
    • Outline the flow of blood in the veins of the lower limbs

  • Varicose Veins

    • To accommodate the retrograde or reflux flow, the veins enlarge even more.
    • Varicose veins are most often found in the superficial veins of the legs, which are subject to high pressure when standing.
    • Spider veins are less than one millimeter in diameter, whereas varicose veins are larger than this in diameter.
    • The traditional surgical treatment has been vein stripping, or removal of the affected veins.
    • The middle image shows where varicose veins might appear in a leg.

  • Veins of the Abdomen and Pelvis

    • A number of veins remove deoxygenated blood from the abdomen and pelvis.
    • The external iliac vein, the upward continuation of the femoral vein, passes upward along the pelvis and ends to form the common iliac vein.The tributaries of the external iliac vein are the inferior epigastric, deep iliac circumflex, and pubic veins.
    • The superior epigastric vein refers to a blood vessel that carries deoxygenated blood and drains into the internal thoracic vein.
    • The inferior epigastric vein refers to the vein that drains into the external iliac vein and arises from the superior epigastric vein.
    • The veins of the abdomen and lower limb include the inferior vena cava, the common iliac veins, the external iliac veins, and their tributaries.

  • Principal Veins

    • Deep veins are often of larger caliber than superficial veins and carry the majority of the blood within the circulatory system.
    • Communicating veins, or perforator veins if they pass through a large muscle mass, directly connect superficial and direct veins.
    • The above veins form part of the systemic circulatory system.
    • The venae cavae are the veins with the largest diameter.
    • There are four pulmonary veins, two from each lung, each of which forms from three to four bronchial veins.