Embryology of the heart

Abstract

The heart is the first organ to form during embryonic development. Soon after its formation, the heart begins to beat highlighting the importance of cardiac function in the developing embryo. However, the original embryonic heart is just a primordial organ that during gestation will undergo complex and finely regulated morphogenetic processes to give rise to the final mature organ. This chapter aims to offer to the reader an overview of the morphogenetic processes controlling the formation of the heart during embryonic development. It starts describing the formation of the primitive heart tube from the cardiac progenitors and how the primitive cardiac tube undergoes looping. Then, we focus on the developmental processes controlling the formation of the different cardiac regions including cardiac chambers, cardiac valves, cardiac septa, cardiac conduction system, and the epicardium and coronary vessels. In the chapter, we have introduced the role of ectodermal derivatives during heart development such as the important role of neural crest cells derivatives in the patterning of the outflow tract region and the innervation of the heart. Throughout the text we have also highlighted the congenital heart conditions associated with abnormal heart development as an introduction to the following chapters.