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Charting the cardiac landscape: Advances in spatial transcriptomics for heart biology
Elie N Farah1, Jessyka T Diaz1, Joshua Bloomekatz2
1Department of Medicine, Division of Cardiology, University of California, La Jolla, San Diego, CA, USA.
Seminars in Cell & Developmental Biology
|August 29, 2025
Summary
Spatial transcriptomics maps gene expression in the heart, revealing cellular organization in development and disease. This technology offers new insights into congenital heart defects and cardiac repair.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Biology
- Developmental Biology
- Genomics
Background:
- The heart forms early in embryonic development and is crucial for fetal growth.
- Congenital heart defects (CHD) arise from spatial disorganization of cardiac cells, affecting 1-3% of births.
- Adult heart diseases, including post-myocardial infarction (MI) conditions, also involve complex cellular and molecular changes.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review spatial transcriptomic technologies for cardiac tissue analysis.
- To highlight advancements in mapping cellular heterogeneity and gene expression in the heart.
- To discuss the application of these technologies in understanding heart development, disease, and regeneration.
Main Methods:
- Utilizing spatial transcriptomics to generate high-resolution gene expression maps within intact cardiac tissue.
- Applying multi-modal approaches combining spatial transcriptomics with epigenetic, proteomic, and functional data.
- Analyzing gene expression patterns in developing human hearts and adult hearts post-myocardial infarction.
Main Results:
- Spatial transcriptomics precisely maps cellular heterogeneity in developing human hearts, identifying spatially organized cell populations and signaling pathways.
- Studies reveal injury-zone-specific gene expression patterns in adult hearts after MI.
- Multi-modal data integration enhances understanding of cell-specific responses and molecular mechanisms in cardiac injury and fibrosis.
Conclusions:
- Spatial transcriptomics provides unprecedented insights into cardiac morphogenesis, congenital heart defects, and adult heart diseases.
- Advancements enable detailed analysis of cell-cell interactions and spatial organization in cardiovascular research.
- Future applications hold promise for addressing fundamental questions in cardiovascular biology and developing novel therapies.
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