Heart Tube (heart + tube)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Second lineage of heart forming region provides new understanding of conotruncal heart defects

CONGENITAL ANOMALIES, Issue 1 2010
Yuji Nakajima
ABSTRACT Abnormal heart development causes various congenital heart defects. Recent cardiovascular biology studies have elucidated the morphological mechanisms involved in normal and abnormal heart development. The primitive heart tube originates from the lateral-most part of the heart forming mesoderm and mainly gives rise to the left ventricle. Then, during the cardiac looping, the outflow tract is elongated by the addition of cardiogenic cells from the both pharyngeal and splanchnic mesoderm (corresponding to anterior and secondary heart field, respectively), which originate from the mediocaudal region of the heart forming mesoderm and are later located anteriorly (rostrally) to the dorsal region of the heart tube. Therefore, the heart progenitors that contribute to the outflow tract region are distinct from those that form the left ventricle. The knowledge that there are two different lineages of heart progenitors in the four-chambered heart provides new understanding of the morphological and molecular etiology of conotruncal heart defects. [source]


Understanding heart development and congenital heart defects through developmental biology: A segmental approach

CONGENITAL ANOMALIES, Issue 4 2005
Masahide Sakabe
ABSTRACT The heart is the first organ to form and function during development. In the pregastrula chick embryo, cells contributing to the heart are found in the postero-lateral epiblast. During the pregastrula stages, interaction between the posterior epiblast and hypoblast is required for the anterior lateral plate mesoderm (ALM) to form, from which the heart will later develop. This tissue interaction is replaced by an Activin-like signal in culture. During gastrulation, the ALM is committed to the heart lineage by endoderm-secreted BMP and subsequently differentiates into cardiomyocyte. The right and left precardiac mesoderms migrate toward the ventral midline to form the beating primitive heart tube. Then, the heart tube generates a right-side bend, and the d-loop and presumptive heart segments begin to appear segmentally: outflow tract (OT), right ventricle, left ventricle, atrioventricular (AV) canal, atrium and sinus venosus. T-box transcription factors are involved in the formation of the heart segments: Tbx5 identifies the left ventricle and Tbx20 the right ventricle. After the formation of the heart segments, endothelial cells in the OT and AV regions transform into mesenchyme and generate valvuloseptal endocardial cushion tissue. This phenomenon is called endocardial EMT (epithelial-mesenchymal transformation) and is regulated mainly by BMP and TGF,. Finally, heart septa that have developed in the OT, ventricle, AV canal and atrium come into alignment and fuse, resulting in the completion of the four-chambered heart. Altered development seen in the cardiogenetic process is involved in the pathogenesis of congenital heart defects. Therefore, understanding the molecular nature regulating the ,nodal point' during heart development is important in order to understand the etiology of congenital heart defects, as well as normal heart development. [source]


Characterization of molecular markers to assess cardiac cushions formation in Xenopus

DEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS, Issue 12 2009
Young-Hoon Lee
Abstract The valves and septa of the mature heart are derived from the cardiac cushions, which develop from discrete swellings in two regions of developing heart tube: the atrioventricular (AV) canal and the ventricular outflow tract (OFT). In higher vertebrates, three distinct lineages contribute to the heart valves and septa, the endocardium, the myocardium, and the cardiac neural crest that will populate the cardiac jelly of the OFT. Very little is known about cardiac cushions development in amphibians. Here, we describe the expression of eight genes during key stages of cardiac cushion development in Xenopus. Among these genes, the Wnt antagonist Frzb1 and the transcription factors Xl-Fli, Sox8, Sox9, and Sox10 are differentially expressed in the mesenchyme of the OFT and AV cushions. These genes can be used in combination with lineage-tracing experiments to determine the embryonic origin of the cardiac cushions mesenchyme in Xenopus. Developmental Dynamics 238:3257,3265, 2009. © 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Left-asymmetric expression of Galanin in the linear heart tube of the mouse embryo is independent of the nodal co-receptor gene cryptic

DEVELOPMENTAL DYNAMICS, Issue 12 2008
Axel Schweickert
Abstract Only very few left/right asymmetrically expressed genes are known in the mammalian embryo. In a screen for novel factors we identified the gene encoding the neuropeptide Galanin in mouse. At embryonic day (E) 8.5 asymmetric mRNA transcription was found in the left half of the linear heart tube. During heart looping and morphogenesis expression became restricted to the atrio-ventricular (AV) canal, followed by specific staining of the AV-node and AV-rings in the four-chambered heart. Expression was inverted in inv/inv and randomized in homozygous iv mutant embryos. Left-sided heart-specific transcription of mouse Gal thus should be controlled by the left-right pathway. The asymmetric pattern was retained in cryptic mutant embryos, in which the Nodal signaling cascade is disrupted. Surprisingly, Pitx2c was found to be expressed in 50% of cryptic mutant hearts as well, suggesting that some aspects of asymmetric gene expression in the heart are independent of cryptic. Developmental Dynamics 237:3557,3564, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


,And the beat goes on' The cardiac conduction system: the wiring system of the heart

EXPERIMENTAL PHYSIOLOGY, Issue 10 2009
Mark R. Boyett
The cardiac conduction system (CCS), consisting of the sino-atrial node, atrioventricular node and His,Purkinje system, is responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of the heart beat. In the last decade, our understanding of the CCS has been transformed. Immunohistochemistry, used in conjunction with anatomical techniques, has transformed our understanding of its anatomy; arguably, we now understand the position of the sino-atrial node (not the same as in medical textbooks), and our new understanding of the atrioventricular node anatomy means that we can compute its physiological and pathophysiological behaviour. Ion channel expression in the CCS has been shown to be fundamentally different from that in the working myocardium. Dysfunction of the CCS has previously been attributed to fibrosis, but it is now clear that remodelling of ion channels plays an important role in dysfunction during ageing, heart failure and atrial fibrillation. Differences in ion channel expression may even be responsible for the bradycardia in the athlete and differences in heart rate among different species (such as humans and mice). Recent work has highlighted less well-known components of the CCS, including tricuspid, mitral and aortic rings and even a third (retro-aortic) node. These additional tissues do not participate in the initiation and co-ordination of the heart beat and instead they are likely to be the source of various life-threatening arrhythmias. During embryological development, all parts of the CCS have been shown to develop from the primary myocardium of the linear heart tube, partly under the influence of the transcription factor, Tbx3. [source]


Second chromosome genes required for heart development in Drosophila melanogaster

GENESIS: THE JOURNAL OF GENETICS AND DEVELOPMENT, Issue 10 2007
Ye Tao
Abstract Heart development is an evolutionarily conserved process. The cardiac organ of Drosophila melanogaster is the dorsal vessel, a linear contractile tissue with cellular and morphogenetic similarities to the primitive heart tube formed at an early stage of vertebrate heart formation. Abundant evidence shows comparable intercellular signaling pathways and transcription factor networks are utilized in Drosophila and vertebrates, to specify cardiac progenitor cells and instruct their differentiation and function in forming the mature heart. With this proven conservation in mind, we screened the second chromosome of Drosophila for genetic intervals that harbor additional loci required for normal dorsal vessel morphogenesis. Our studies identified numerous regions, that when deleted, culminated in dorsal vessels with abnormal cell numbers and/or structural properties. Certain of the deficiency intervals were further characterized to identify individual genes essential for proper cardiac organ formation. Our analyses identified eight genes of diverse functions that are needed for dorsal vessel development. Several of these sequences have known vertebrate homologues, further supporting a conserved genetic basis for heart formation in Drosophila and higher eukaryotes. genesis 45:607,617, 2007. © 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Analysis of Cardiac Development in the Turtle Emys orbicularis (Testudines: Emidydae) using 3-D Computer Modeling from Histological Sections

THE ANATOMICAL RECORD : ADVANCES IN INTEGRATIVE ANATOMY AND EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY, Issue 7 2010
Laura M.F. Bertens
Abstract In this article we present a 3-D modeling study of cardiac development in the European pond turtle, Emys orbicularis (of the reptilian order Testudines). The study is aimed at elucidating the embryonic development of the horizontal septum in the ventricle and underscoring the importance of 3-D reconstructions in studying morphogenesis. Turtles possess one common ventricle, partly divided into three cava by a vertical and a horizontal septum, of which the embryonic origins have so far not been described. We used serial sectioning and computerized high-resolution 3-D reconstructions of different developmental stages to create a chronological overview of cardiogenesis, in order to study this process. This has yielded a new understanding of the development of the horizontal septum and (directly related) the looping of the heart tube. This looping is found to be markedly different from that in the human heart, with the turtle having two clear bends in the part of the heart tube leaving the primitive ventricle, as opposed to one in humans. It is this particular looping that is reponsible for the formation of the horizontal septum. In addition to our findings on the ventricular septation this study has also yielded new insights into the developmental origins of the pulmonary vein. The 3-D reconstructions were built using our platform TDR-3-D base and enabled us to study the developmental processes in specific parts of the turtle heart separately and in three dimensions, over time. The complete 3-D reconstructions have been made available to the reader via internet using our 3-D model browser application, which allows interactive viewing of the models. The browser application can be found on bio-imaging.liacs.nl/galleries/emysorbicularis/TurtleGallery.html, along with additional images of both models and histological sections and animation sequences of the models. By allowing the reader to view the material in such an interactive way, we hope to make optimal use of the new 3-D reconstruction techniques and to engage the reader in a more direct manner. Anat Rec 239:1101,1114, 2010. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]