Study of Oval Foramen Anatomy in the Hearts Iranian One Humped Camel (Camelus Dromedarius) Fetuses

This study was carried out to investigate the morphology of the oval foramen in the fetal stage of dromedary camel fetuses by routine dissection. The hearts were obtained from 21 fetuses that were collected from Yazd slaughter house of Iran. The Crown Vertebral Rump Length (CVRL) of fetuses were from 10.1 to 85 cm and estimated gestational age calculated from 81.9 to 270 days old. The results showed that anatomical structures of oval foramen in fetal camels concluded of septum primum (valve of oval foramen), foramen secundum, septum secundum and a large passageway called oval foramen (foramen ovale). The septum primum was a flat, long thin, white color and unfenestrated membrane (fold) in all fetuses. The thin fold was in the lower portion of formen secundum and constituted about %75 to %100 of the lumen of the oval foramen in the small to large fetuses, respectively. So, it constituted a large proportion of lumen and was large enough to cover the opening of oval foramen, specialy in large fetuses. The septum secundum was a thick, short and crescent-shaped fold above of ovale foramen. The oval foramen showed like an oval passage way between free border and arms of septum secundum. It was concluded that despite of size of heart and oval foramen, all structural arrangements of heart oval foramen in fetus of camel are similar to reports about other mammals and human.