The postcardinal veins or posterior cardinal veins join with the corresponding right and left cardinal veins to form the left common cardinal veins, which empty in the

sinus venosus The sinus venosus is a large quadrangular cavity which precedes the atrium on the venous side of the chordate heart. In mammals, it exists distinctly only in the embryonic heart, where it is found between the two venae cavae. However, the sinus v ...

. In the development of a

human embryo Human embryonic development, or human embryogenesis, is the development and formation of the human embryo. It is characterised by the processes of cell division and cellular differentiation of the embryo that occurs during the early stages of ...

, most of the posterior cardinal veins regress, and what remains of them forms the renal segment of the

inferior vena cava The inferior vena cava is a large vein that carries the deoxygenated blood from the lower and middle body into the right atrium of the heart. It is formed by the joining of the right and the left common iliac veins, usually at the level of th ...

and the common iliac veins. Later in the development stages, the posterior cardinal veins are replaced by the subcardinal and supracardinal veins. The subcardinal veins form part of the inferior vena cava, the

renal vein The renal veins are large-calibre veins that drain blood filtered by the kidneys into the inferior vena cava. There is one renal vein draining each kidney. Because the inferior vena cava is on the right half of the body, the left renal vein is lo ...

s and the

gonadal vein In medicine, gonadal vein refers to the blood vessel that carries blood away from the gonad (testis, ovary) toward the heart. These are different arteries in women (ovarian vein) and men ( testicular vein), but share the same embryological origin ...

s. The supracardinal veins form part of the inferior vena cava, the intercostal veins, the

hemiazygos vein The hemiazygos vein (vena azygos minor inferior) is a vein running superiorly in the lower thoracic region, just to the left side of the vertebral column. Structure The hemiazygos vein and the accessory hemiazygos vein, when taken together, essen ...

and the

azygos vein The azygos vein is a vein running up the right side of the thoracic vertebral column draining itself towards the superior vena cava. It connects the systems of superior vena cava and inferior vena cava and can provide an alternative path for blo ...

Henry Gray Henry Gray (1827 – 13 June 1861) was a British anatomist and surgeon most notable for publishing the book ''Gray's Anatomy''. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) at the age of 25. Biography Gray was born in Belgrav ...

(1918). Anatomy of the Human Body, page 520.

Additional images

File:Gray459.png, Human embryo of about fourteen days, with yolk-sac.

References

External links

*
Diagram at nature.com
Embryology of cardiovascular system {{circulatory-stub

Additional images

See also

References

External links