Molecular regulation of cardiac myogenesis and morphology during development

• Published in: Progress in pediatric cardiology Vol. 9; no. 3; pp. 155 - 170
• Main Authors: Gupta, Madhu, Gupta, Mahesh P, Arcilla, Rene A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01-12-1998
• Subjects: Adrenergic system; Cardiac myogenesis; Cardiac progenitors; Cardiac tube and looping; Splanchnic mesoderm; Thyroid hormone; Transcriptional regulation; Adrenergic system; Splanchnic mesoderm; Cardiac tube and looping; Thyroid hormone; Cardiac progenitors; Transcriptional regulation; Cardiac myogenesis
• ISSN: 1058-9813; 1558-1519
• DOI: 10.1016/S1058-9813(99)00003-X

Heart development results from a complex but highly integrated series of interactions involving various cell types of diverse origin. These interactions are carried out in a strictly regulated environment at both genetic and epigenetic levels. This review focuses on the molecular events that control the sequential processes involved in heart development from cardiac progenitors through the fully-developed four-chambered heart. Recent advances in molecular regulation of mesodermal cell determination to cardiac progenitors, their migration and fusion resulting into cardiac tube formation followed by looping, and septae and valve formation are described. The myocardium is an essential component of the heart. To understand the molecular basis of myocardial cell growth, it is imperative to evaluate the cascade of molecular events involved in the recruitment of mesodermal cells to muscle lineage, their subsequent differentiation into cardiac cells expressing muscle proteins, and delineate factors that modulate contractile protein expression. An overview of transcriptional regulatory processes in each of these steps, namely, cardiomyogenic determination, differentiation and modulation of cardiac-specific muscle protein expression is also provided.