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Cardiogenesis: An Embryological Perspective

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Abstract

Cardiogenesis, considered as the formation of new heart tissue from embryonic, postnatal, or adult cardiac progenitors, is a pivotal concept to understand the rationale of advanced therapies to repair the damaged heart. In this review, we focus on the cellular and molecular regulation of cardiogenesis in the developing embryo, and we dissect the complex interactions that control the diversification and maturation of a variety of cardiac cell lineages. Our aim is to show how the sophisticated anatomical structure of the adult four-chambered heart strongly depends on the fine regulation of the differentiation of cardiac progenitor cells. These events are shown to be progressive and dynamic as well as plastic, so that the patterned differentiation of distinct heart domains is highly dependent on signals provided by nonmyocardial heart components and extracardiac tissues. Finally, we present the core of our knowledge on cardiac embryogenesis in a biomedical context to provide a critical analysis on the logic of cell therapies designed to treat the failing heart.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants BFU08-02384 and BFU2009-07929 (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation), P06-CTS-01614 (Junta de Andalucía), the Spanish cooperative networks on research TERCEL and RECAVA (ISCIII), and the European Union Sixth Framework Program contract (“HeartRepair”) LSHM-CT-2005-018630. We thank present and past members of our laboratory for their contribution and helpful discussions.

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  1. Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Málaga, Campus de Teatinos s/n, 29071, Málaga, Spain

    Ramón Muñoz-Chápuli & José M. Pérez-Pomares

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Muñoz-Chápuli, R., Pérez-Pomares, J.M. Cardiogenesis: An Embryological Perspective. J. of Cardiovasc. Trans. Res. 3, 37–48 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12265-009-9146-1

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