Abstract-Although rapid progress is being made in many areas of molecular cardiology, issues pertaining to the origins of heart-forming cells, the mechanisms responsible for cardiogenic induction, and the pathways that regulate cardiomyocyte proliferation during embryonic and adult life remain unanswered. In the present study, we review approaches and studies that have shed some light on cardiomyocyte cell cycle regulation. For reference, an initial description of cardiomyogenic induction and morphogenesis is provided, which is followed by a summary of published cell cycle analyses during these stages of cardiac ontology. A review of studies examining cardiomyocyte cell cycle analysis and de novo cardiomyogenic induction in the adult heart is then presented. Finally, studies in which cardiomyocyte cell cycle activity was experimentally manipulated in vitro and in vivo are reviewed. It is hoped that this compilation will serve to stimulate thought and experimentation in this intriguing area of cardiomyocyte cell biology. Key Words: cardiomyocyte proliferation Ⅲ cardiac myocyte apoptosis Ⅲ heart regeneration Ⅲ gene targeting Ⅲ transgenic mice S tudies using embryos from different species (fly, chick, zebrafish, xenopus, and mouse) have shed some light on the cardiogenic induction process. During gastrulation of the chick embryo, primitive streak cells migrate to the lateral plate mesoderm. Those cells that migrate to the anterior lateral plate mesoderm are destined to form heart tissue. [1][2][3] On migration, these cells proliferate extensively 4 while remaining in close contact with the anterior endoderm 3 (a prerequisite for their subsequent cardiomyogenic induction). 5 Recent studies have elegantly identified several growth factors that regulate cardiomyogenic induction of the precursor cells in the anterior mesoderm. These include molecules that promote cardiomyogenic induction (BMPs, FGFs, inhibitors of Wnt family of morphogens such as Crescent, Dkk-1, and glycogen synthase kinase-3), as well as molecules that inhibit the process (Wnt family of morphogens, noggin, and chordin). 6 -9 The failure of these growth factors to promote cardiomyogenic induction in more primitive precursor cells indicates that additional as of yet unidentified factors participate in the process.In contrast to our somewhat limited understanding of the inductive clues that mediate cardiomyogenic lineage determination, the morphogenetic transformation of the primitive heart into a 4-chambered structure is fairly well characterized. The heart field initially forms as a crescent shaped structure in the anterior part of the embryo that later develops into a linear tube. 10 The tubular heart undergoes segmentation along the anterior-posterior axis, followed by rightward looping. This process results in the formation of the right and left ventricles, the atrioventricular canal, the sinoatrial, and the outflow tract segments. 11,12 Subsequently, the ventral side of the heart tube rotates and forms the outer curvature of the heart, with the d...