Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 2, 2026

Analysis of Neural Crest Migration and Differentiation by Cross-species Transplantation
09:03

Analysis of Neural Crest Migration and Differentiation by Cross-species Transplantation

Published on: February 7, 2012

Visual understanding of cardiac development: the neural crest's contribution

L Leatherbury1, K Waldo

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta 30912, USA.

Cellular & Molecular Biology Research
|January 1, 1995
PubMed

Insights

Understanding normal and abnormal cardiovascular development is crucial for scientists and clinicians. This review visualizes cardiac development, framing defects as arrested stages, aiding in classification and understanding potential mechanisms.

Area of Science:

  • Developmental Biology
  • Cardiovascular Science
  • Embryology

Background:

  • Cardiovascular development is critical for basic scientists and clinicians managing congenital heart defects.
  • Understanding normal development provides a framework for identifying abnormal pathways leading to disease.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To present a visual overview of cardiac development.
  • To establish a framework for understanding how abnormal development leads to cardiovascular defects.
  • To correlate human and chick cardiac development.

Main Methods:

  • Schematic presentation of human heart development.
  • Correlation with chick cardiac development stages.
  • Analysis of neural crest-ablated embryos to study normal and abnormal cardiac development.

Main Results:

  • Identified differential growth as a key mechanism in cardiovascular development, less prominent postnatally.
  • Characterized cardiac defects as arrested stages of normal development.
  • Highlighted that persistent abnormal relationships between developing structures signify defects.

Conclusions:

  • Visualizing heart defects as arrested developmental points aids in classification.
  • The exact causative mechanisms of abnormal cardiovascular development remain incompletely understood.
  • Neural crest models suggest potential mechanisms for cardiac defects.

More Related Videos

Imaging Cleared Embryonic and Postnatal Hearts at Single-cell Resolution07:30

Imaging Cleared Embryonic and Postnatal Hearts at Single-cell Resolution

Published on: October 7, 2016

Multi-Photon Time Lapse Imaging to Visualize Development in Real-time: Visualization of Migrating Neural Crest Cells in Zebrafish Embryos10:13

Multi-Photon Time Lapse Imaging to Visualize Development in Real-time: Visualization of Migrating Neural Crest Cells in Zebrafish Embryos

Published on: August 9, 2017

Related Concept Videos

Gastrulation01:56

Gastrulation

Gastrulation establishes the three primary tissues of an embryo: the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. This developmental process relies on a series of intricate cellular movements, which in humans transforms a flat, “bilaminar disc” composed of two cell sheets into a three-tiered structure. In the resulting embryo, the endoderm serves as the bottom layer, and stacked directly above it is the intermediate mesoderm, and then the uppermost ectoderm. Respectively, these tissue strata will form...
Neurulation01:30

Neurulation

Neurulation is the embryological process which forms the precursors of the central nervous system and occurs after gastrulation has established the three primary cell layers of the embryo: ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm. In humans, the majority of this system is formed via primary neurulation, in which the central portion of the ectoderm—originally appearing as a flat sheet of cells—folds upwards and inwards, sealing off to form a hollow neural tube. As development proceeds, the anterior...
Determination01:51

Determination

During embryogenesis, cells become progressively committed to different fates through a two-step process: specification followed by determination. Specification is demonstrated by removing a segment of an early embryo, “neutrally” culturing the tissue in vitro—for example, in a petri dish with simple medium—and then observing the derivatives. If the cultured region gives rise to cell types that it would normally generate in the embryo, this means that it is specified. In contrast, determination...
Chambers of the Heart01:16

Chambers of the Heart

The human heart is a complex organ made up of four chambers: the right and left atria and the right and left ventricles. These internal chambers are separated by partitions known as the interatrial and interventricular septa. The exterior of the heart features a groove known as the coronary sulcus that demarcates the atria from the ventricles, while the anterior and posterior interventricular sulci distinguish between the two ventricles.
Deoxygenated blood from the body is received in the right...
Development of the Heart01:27

Development of the Heart

The development of the human heart, a crucial organ, commences from the mesoderm on the 18th or 19th day after fertilization. This process initiates in the cardiogenic area, a group of mesodermal cells at the embryo's head end, which evolves into elongated strands known as cardiogenic cords. These cords undergo a transformation to form hollow-centered endocardial tubes.
As the embryo undergoes lateral folding, these paired tubes approach each other, merging into a single primitive heart tube by...