Organ of Zuckerkandl

Organ of Zuckerkandl
The abdominal aorta and its branches. (Organ of Zuckerkandl is not shown, but it usually appears alongside the abdominal aorta.)
Identifiers
MeSHD010220
TA98A12.2.04.003
TA23889
FMA15647
Anatomical terminology

The organ of Zuckerkandl is a chromaffin body derived from the neural crest located at the bifurcation of the aorta or at the origin of the inferior mesenteric artery. It can be the source of a paraganglioma.[1]

The term para-aortic body is also sometimes used to describe it, as it usually arises near the abdominal aorta, but this term can be the source of confusion, because the term "corpora paraaortica" is also used to describe the aortic body, which arises near the thoracic aorta. This diffused group of neuroendocrine sympathetic fibres was first described by Emil Zuckerkandl, a professor of anatomy at the University of Vienna, in 1901.[2]

Some sources equate the "aortic bodies" and "paraaortic bodies",[3] while other sources explicitly distinguish between the two.[4][5] When a distinction is made, the "aortic bodies" are chemoreceptors which regulate circulation, while the "paraaortic bodies" are the chromaffin cells which manufacture catecholamines.

Organs of Zuckerkandl (O of Z) harbor the potential for deadly paragangliomas. Paragangliomas are one of the surgical causes of hypertension. Major treatises of medicine offer very little information on this topic.[6]

  1. ^ Dossett, Lesly; Rudzinski, Erin; Blevins, Lewis; Chambers, Eugene (2007). "Malignant Pheochromocytoma of the Organ of Zuckerkandl Requiring Aortic and Vena Caval Reconstruction". Endocrine Practice. 13 (5): 493–7. doi:10.4158/ep.13.5.493. PMID 17872352.
  2. ^ synd/3111 at Who Named It?
  3. ^ "organs of Zuckerkandl" at Dorland's Medical Dictionary
  4. ^ Aortic+Bodies at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
  5. ^ Para-Aortic+Bodies at the U.S. National Library of Medicine Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)
  6. ^ Subramanian, Anuradha; Maker, Vijay K. (2006-08-01). "Organs of Zuckerkandl: their surgical significance and a review of a century of literature". The American Journal of Surgery. 192 (2): 224–234. doi:10.1016/j.amjsurg.2006.02.018. ISSN 0002-9610. PMID 16860635.