Development of the human heart

Abstract

In 2014, an extensive review discussing the major steps of cardiac development focusing on growth, formation of primary and chamber myocardium and the development of the cardiac electrical system, was published. Molecular genetic lineage analyses have since furthered our insight in the developmental origin of the various component parts of the heart, which currently can be unambiguously identified by their unique molecular phenotype. Moreover, genetic, molecular and cell biological analyses have driven insights into the mechanisms underlying the development of the different cardiac components. Here, we build on our previous review and provide an insight into the molecular mechanistic revelations that have forwarded the field of cardiac development. Despite the enormous advances in our knowledge over the last decade, the development of congenital cardiac malformations remains poorly understood. The challenge for the next decade will be to evaluate the different developmental processes using newly developed molecular genetic techniques to further unveil the gene regulatory networks operational during normal and abnormal cardiac development.

Maternal Folic Acid Intake and Methylation Status of Genes Associated with Ventricular Septal Defects in Children: Case–Control Study

“…The start time of folic acid supplement consumption and AXIN1 expression could thus together play a crucial role during cardiogenesis, including cardiac septation. In our study, there was a lower proportion of maternal folic acid supplement consumption in the first trimester (74.2% vs. 54.5%, control vs. VSD, respectively), a critical period of ventricular septal formation [ 50 ].…”

BMP10 Signaling Promotes the Development of Endocardial Cells from Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiovascular Progenitors

“…One of the earliest stages of heart development is the formation of the primitive heart tube that consists of an inner layer of specialized endothelial cells, known as endocardial cells, surrounded by an outer layer of cardiomyocytes (Buijtendijk et al, 2020;Sedmera et al, 2000;Sylva et al, 2014). These endocardial cells play a pivotal role in heart development, as they are responsible for inducing the first functional population of cardiomyocytes, namely, trabecular cardiomyocytes that form the earliest heart muscle tissue known as trabecular myocardium (Del Monte-Nieto et al, 2018;Tian and Morrisey, 2012).…”

Di-2-ethylhexyl phthalate induces heart looping disorders during zebrafish development

“…It is estimated that 10-12 live-born infants per 1000 are diagnosed with CHD (Pierpont et al, 2018). The sequence of early heart morphological development includes cardiac progenitor formation, assembly of the myocardial plate, heart tube formation, heart looping, and valve formation (Buijtendijk et al, 2020). The main outcome of heart looping is that the straight, bilaterally symmetric heart tube is transformed into a c-shaped heart loop and then an s-shaped heart loop (Manner, 2000).…”