Heart Development Embryo Flashcards
When does the heart start beating?
Day 22
What embryonic tissue is the heart derived from?
Splanchnic mesoderm
What are heart fields and what do they become?
Primary heart field: comes from the primitive streak, develops into left and right atria, and the left ventricle
Secondary heart field: comes from pharyngeal arches, develops into right ventricle, outflow tract and the venous pole of the atria
What is the outflow tract
Bulbus cordis (conus cordis) and truncus arteriosis -> they both eventually become the aorta and pulmonary tract
What does intraembryonic coelom give rise to?
Pericardial cavity
What is the cardiogenic cord also called?
Primary heart field or heart tubes
What is dorsal mesocardium?
A double layer of splanchnic mesoderm that forms from the fusion of the two endocardial heart tubes (eventually it pinches off to give transverse pericardial sinus).
It provides route for blood vessels, lymph and nerves to get to/from organs
What are the three layers of heart mesenchyme?
Endocardium: internal endothelial lining
Myocardium: muscular wall
Epicardium: (visceral pericardium) outer covering of heart
What does the transverse sinus do?
Separates outflow tract from venous flow
What do neural crest cells participate in? And what structures do they migrate through?
Originating in the medulla (myencephalon), they migrate through parygeal arches 3, 4, 6 and help to form the truncus arteriosus and aorticopulmonary septa (b/w aorta and pulmonary tract)
What regulates cardiac neural crest migration/differentiation?
Retinoic acid, Hox genes, Nf-1 and Pax3.
Note: too much vitamin A in pregnancy can cause cardiac defects d/t disruption of NC migration. (Accutane is a vitamin A derivative)
What is the order of heart formation?
Day 20: 2 heart tubes approach and fuse
Day 21: fusion into primitive heart tube
Day 22: heart starts to beat, have truncus arteriosus, bulbus cordis, primitive ventricle and primitive atrium
Day 23: heart starts to bend down on itself and to the right (bulboventricular loop)
Days 24-25: atrium and sinus venosus come to lie dorsally in back, ventricle moves down
What is dextrocardia?
When cardiac folding happens in the opposite direction (to the left) and the heart becomes a mirror image of normal folding.
Can cause other defects unless it presents with sinus inversus: where all abdominal contents are in mirror image, then it can go unnoticed for years
What are the different septation events, and when are they taking place?
Atrioventricular (AV) septum, Atrial septation, Interventricular (IVS) septum, Conotruncal septum
All are happening at the same time, start mid 4th week and end in the 8th week of development
Describe atrioventricular (AV) canal septation
Dorsal and ventral endocardial (AV) cushions grow together, giving right and left AV canals, separating atria from ventricle
Note: formation remodeling of the AV cushions is retinoic acid-dependent, so disruption of retinoid signaling often produces AV canal defects