Hemodynamics of the stage 12 to stage 29 chick embryo

The heart is the first functioning organ in the embryo and provides blood flow during cardiac morphogenesis from a muscle-wrapped tube a few cells thick to the four-chambered pump. We described the hemodynamics of the chick embryo from stage 12 (50 hours of a 21-day incubation) to stage 29 (6 days), during which the embryo weight increased 120-fold. We measured ventricular, embryo and extraembryonic vascular bed wet weights, dorsal aortic blood flow with a directional pulsed-Doppler velocity meter, and ventricular and vitelline arterial blood pressures with a servo-null micropressure system. The data are reported as mean +/- SEM. With rapid development and morphogenesis, dorsal aortic blood flow increased from 0.015 +/- 0.004 to 2.40 +/- 0.20 mm3/sec parallel to the geometric increase of wet embryo weight from 2.22 +/- 0.10 to 267.5 +/- 9.7 mg. Dorsal aortic blood flow normalized for embryo and extraembryonic weight remained relatively constant (Y = 2.13 + 0.02X, r = 0.23, SEE = 0.03). Stroke volume increased from 0.01 +/- 0.003 to 0.69 +/- 0.03 mm3, and heart rate doubled from 103 +/- 2 to 208 +/- 5 beats/min. Systolic, diastolic, and mean vitelline arterial pressure increased linearly from 0.32 +/- 0.01, 0.23 +/- 0.01, and 0.28 +/- 0.01 mm Hg at stage 12 to 2.00 +/- 0.06, 1.22 +/- 0.03, and 1.51 +/- 0.04 mm Hg, respectively, at stage 29. Ventricular peak systolic and end-diastolic pressure increased from 0.95 +/- 0.04 and 0.24 +/- 0.02 at stage 12 to 3.45 +/- 0.10 and 0.82 +/- 0.03 at stage 29, respectively. The hemodynamic waveforms were similar to those found in the four-chamber heart of the mature animal. These data are integral to understanding the interrelation of function and form during cardiac development.