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Updated: May 17, 2026
Heart Dissection in Larval, Juvenile and Adult Zebrafish, Danio rerio
Published on: September 30, 2011
Analysis of postembryonic heart development and maturation in the zebrafish, Danio rerio
Corinna Singleman1, Nathalia G Holtzman
1Department of Biology, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing New York and The Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York, USA.
Background:
Cardiac maturation is vital for animal survival and must occur throughout the animal's life. Zebrafish are increasingly used to model cardiac disease; however, little is known about how the cardiovascular system matures. We conducted a systematic analysis of cardiac maturation from larvae through to adulthood and assessed cardiac features influenced by genetic and environmental factors.
Results:
We identified a novel step in cardiac maturation, termed cardiac rotation, where the larval heart rotates into its final orientation within the thoracic cavity with the atrium placed behind the ventricle. This rotation is followed by linear ventricle growth and an increase in the angle between bulbous arteriosus and the ventricle. The ventricle transitions from a rectangle, to a triangle and ultimately a sphere that is significantly enveloped by the atrium. In addition, trabeculae are similarly patterned in the zebrafish and humans, both with muscular fingerlike projections and muscle bands that span the cardiac chamber. Of interest, partial loss of atrial contraction in myosin heavy chain 6 (myh6/wea(hu423/+)) mutants result in the adult maintaining a larval cardiac form.
Conclusions:
These findings serve as a foundation for the study of defects in cardiovascular development from both genetic and environmental factors.
