Development of arterial system

Vasculogenesis and Angiogenesis

• Vasculogenesis - formation of new blood vessels
(endothelium from mesoderm)
• Angiogenesis - formation of blood vessels from pre-existing
vessels (occurs in development and adult)
• Begins week 3 in extraembryonic mesoderm and
then embryonic splanchnic mesoderm
• Begins as the formation of blood islands
• Earliest islands - yolk sac, connecting stalk and chorion
(Area vasculosa)
• angioblasts form clusters called "blood islands"
• blood islands extend and fuse together to form a primordial
vascular network
 Objectives
• Aortic arches and its derivatives
• Intersegmental arteries
• Anomalies
 Blood vessels in embryo
• will form the most of the cardiovascular system
• some vessels have neural crest contribution
• Arterial blood flow - aortic sac → aortic arches → dorsal aorta
→umbilical artery
– dorsal aorta,
• paired initially , later fuses (gives off segmental arteries)
• connect to ventral aorta via pharyngeal arches arteries.
• caudally, give rise to umbilical arteries
• laterally, give rise to intersegmental arteries
• Veins - 3 pairs of veins empty into the sinus venosus of the heart
– vitelline,
– umbilical (right and left from developing placenta enter caudal
cardiac tube; only left persists)
– cardinal veins - anterior, common, posterior
• The Three Early Embryonic Circulations
• Three paired veins drain into the primordial heart tube:
• Vitelline veins (returning poorly oxygenated blood from the yolk sac)
• umbilical veins (carrying well-oxygenated blood from the primordial placenta)
• common cardinal veins (return poorly oxygenated blood from the body of the
embryo).
• The vitelline venous system gives rise to the liver sinusoids and portal system, and
forms the ductus venosus which shunts blood from the umbilical vein to the IVC.
 Aortic arches
Key facts
• Arise from the aortic sac (truncus arteriosus ) to pharyngeal
arches ( 4-5 weeks)

• Terminate in the left and right dorsal aorta

• These arches and vessels appear in a cranial to caudal

sequence and not all simultanously

• The aortic sac also forms left and right horns which give rise
to the brachiocephalic artery and proximal arch
respectively
 Aortic Arches
• As the pharyngeal arches form during the 4th
and 5th weeks, they are supplied by arteries
called aortic arches from the aortic sac

• Initially, the paired dorsal aorta run through

the entire length of the embryo

• They soon fuse to form a single dorsal aorta,

just caudal to pharyngeal arches
 Aortic Arches
• The aortic arches arise from the aortic sac and
terminate in the dorsal aorta of the ipsilateral side

• Though six pairs of aortic arches usually develop

• All are not present at the same time

• By the time the six pair of aortic arches has formed,

the first two pairs disappear

• During the eighth week, the aortic arch pattern is

transformed to final fetal arterial arrangement
 Intersegmental Arteries

• Thirty or so branches of the dorsal aorta pass

between and carry blood to the somites and their
derivatives, called intersegmental arteries

• The dorsal intersegmental arteries in the neck join to

form a longitudinal artery on each side, the vertebral
artery

• In the thorax, the dorsal intersegmental arteries

persist as intercostal arteries
 Intersegmental Arteries
• Most of the dorsal intersegmental arteries in the
abdomen become lumbar arteries

• The 5th pair of lumbar intersegmental arteries

remains as the common iliac arteries

• In the sacral region, the intersegmental arteries form

the lateral sacral arteries

• The caudal end of dorsal aorta becomes the median

sacral artery
Aortic arches
Changes from the original aortic arches
Arch I
Arch II
 Arch III
• Carotid arch –
persists, becomes part of carotid arteries
 Arch IV
• AORTIC ARCH
right side – right subclavian artery
left side – arch of the aorta
 Arch V
• Either never forms or forms incompletely and
then regresses.
 Arch VI
• Pulmonary arch
left side – left pulmonary artery and
ductus arteriosus
right side – right pulmonary artery
(no ductus arteriosus on right side)
Clinical correlates
 Aortic Arch Anomalies

• Coarctation of aorta or constriction of aorta

• Double aortic arch

• Right arch of aorta

Double aortic arch
Coarctation of aorta
Coarctation of aorta
Right arch of aorta