New insights into heart cell origins could reshape defect research

    
• Scientists identified the origin of heart cells in mice.
• The study used advanced three-dimensional microscopy.
• The discovery could influence the understanding of congenital heart defects.

Scientists from University College London made a groundbreaking discovery that could change our understanding of heart development. Through advanced three-dimensional microscopy, they identified the origin of the cells forming the heart in mice. This study could be crucial for understanding mechanisms behind congenital heart defects.

The study utilized layer microscopy, which allows observation of three-dimensional details of living tissues without damaging them. Thanks to this, scientists tracked the movement and division of cells forming the heart at the critical moment in embryo development, known as gastrulation.

The study results were surprising. It turned out that as early as the initial stage of gastrulation, cells that will exclusively form the heart begin to appear. Moreover, these cells move in an organized way, as if they already know where they are going.

This is the first time we've been able to watch heart cells this closely, for this long, during mammalian development. We first had to reliably grow the embryos in a dish over long periods, from a few hours to a few days, and what we found was totally unexpected, explains Dr. Kenzo Ivanovitch.

This discovery could revolutionize the understanding of the formation of congenital heart defects and the formation of an organ. Scientists hope that their research will help in the future to discover new mechanisms of organ formation, which could have significant importance and application in regenerative medicine.

In the future, we hope this work will help uncover new mechanisms of organ formation. This will inform design principles to precisely program tissue patterns and shapes for tissue engineering, emphasized Dr. Ivanovitch.