What processes occur during cardiac development?2018-07-02T12:14:40+08:30

What processes occur during cardiac development?

The heart is the first functional organ to form during the development of an embryo, which, in humans, occurs during the third week post-fertilization. It primarily involves the following sequence of events: the specification of cardiac precursor cells from pluripotent embryonic stem cells and their differentiation into cardiac progenitor cells or cardiomyocytes, the organization of cardiomyocytes into a cardiac tube, followed by septation of the cardiac tube into four chambers as well as the paired arterial trunks. In the past two decades, a plethora of studies using advanced technologies and suitable animal models have provided a detailed account of the various cellular and molecular changes that take place during cardiomyocyte differentiation, the formation of the heart tube, and the development of the four cardiac chambers.

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