Abstract
The vascularization of the normal human liver as revealed by the graphical reconstruction of the vascular trees was characterized by regular inter. digitation of the portal and hepatic veins with uniform distance. The lobular pattern of the liver was found entirely to depend upon the particular orientation of the afferent and efferent vessels, and the concept of the hepatic lobule as a preformed structural unit could not be sustained.
A histometrical method was described to estimate the length L of the shortest routes through points randomly taken in an-organ. The distribution of L could be approximated by a normal distribution, so that a ratio Lmax/Lmin, the largest and smallest Ls at 3σ;-level respectively, indicated the inequality in the length of the capillary routes and consequently the irregularity of the vascular interdigitation of each organ. The ratio was smallest in the liver with a value of about 3 and largest in the renal cortex exceeding 50 among the examined organs.
In organs with small Lmax/Lmin, a non-regulatory and steady peripheral circulation was assumed, while alternate or regulatory flow, which developed from intermittent flow of the afferent vessels on account of their regulatory activity, was considered necessary to sustain the peripheral circulation of organs with large Lmax/Lmin.
