Latest news with #heartdevelopment
The Guardian
13-05-2025
- Health
- The Guardian
Formation of heart in mouse embryo could provide way to treat birth defects
The moment a heart begins to form has been captured in extraordinary time-lapse images for the first time. The footage reveals cardiac cells in a mouse embryo begin to spontaneously organise themselves into a heart-like shape early in development. Scientists say the technique could provide new insights into congenital heart defects, which affect nearly one in 100 babies. 'This is the first time we've been able to watch heart cells this closely, for this long, during mammalian development,' said the senior author, Dr Kenzo Ivanovitch of University College London's Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health. '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.' The footage of the developing embryos was captured using a technique called advanced light-sheet microscopy. This allowed scientists to track the embryos as they went through a developmental milestone known as gastrulation, when the embryo begins to form distinct cell lines and starts to establish the basic axes of the body. Soon after, heart muscle cells organise themselves into a large tube that will go on to divide into sections that will eventually become the walls and chambers. In babies with heart defects, a hole can form during this process. Using fluorescent markers, the team tagged heart muscle cells called cardiomyocytes, causing them to glow in distinct colours. Snapshots were captured every two minutes over 40 hours, showing the cells moving, dividing and forming a primitive organ. This allowed the team to see when and where the first cells that make the heart appeared in the embryo. The researchers found that early during gastrulation (about six days into mouse embryo development), cells contributing solely to the heart emerged rapidly and behaved in highly organised ways. Rather than moving randomly, they began to follow distinct paths, whether contributing to the ventricles (the heart's pumping chambers) or the atria (where blood enters the heart from the body and lungs). 'Our findings demonstrate that cardiac fate determination and directional cell movement may be regulated much earlier in the embryo than current models suggest,' said Ivanovitch. 'This fundamentally changes our understanding of cardiac development by showing that what appears to be chaotic cell migration is actually governed by hidden patterns that ensure proper heart formation.' The team said the insights could advance the understanding and treatment of congenital heart defects and accelerate progress in growing heart tissue in the lab for use in regenerative medicine. The findings were published in The EMBO Journal.
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Watch: Moment heart begins to form captured for first time
Credit: UCL Scientists have for the first time captured the moment a heart begins to form from embryonic stem cells. In astonishing footage, heart cells were seen starting to organise themselves into an organ-like shape just a few hours after they had divided from stem cells. The time-lapse images were captured by University College London (UCL) and the Francis Crick Institute, using the advanced light-sheet microscopy technique on a living model of a mouse embryo. The method uses a thin sheet of light to illuminate and take detailed pictures of tiny samples, creating clear 3D images without causing any damage to living tissue. The images capture a critical moment in development, gastrulation, when the soup of new cells that begin dividing after conception start to specialise and move to their correct places in the emerging foetus. In a human it happens around two weeks after pregnancy begins. Being able to see the heart forming so early could allow scientists to understand how congenital defects occur, and how to stop them. Senior author Dr Kenzo Ivanovitch, of UCL's Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, said: '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.' Using fluorescent markers, the team tagged heart muscle cells so that they would glow blue, and then took images every two minutes over 40 hours to create a time-lapse. At the beginning of the process, the cells were capable of becoming various types, but within a few hours heart cells began to differentiate and started behaving in highly organised ways. Rather than moving randomly, researchers found that they quickly started to follow distinct paths. It was almost as if they already knew where they were going and what role they would play, whether as part of the heart's pumping chambers or in its atria, where blood enters from the body. Dr Ivanovitch added: 'Our findings demonstrate that cardiac fate determination and directional cell movement may be regulated much earlier in the embryo than current models suggest. 'This fundamentally changes our understanding of cardiac development by showing that what appears to be chaotic cell migration is actually governed by hidden patterns that ensure proper heart formation.' Shayma Abukar, the lead author and a doctoral candidate at UCL, said: 'We are now working to understand the signals that co-ordinate this complex choreography of cell movements during early heart development. 'The heart doesn't come from a single group of cells. It forms from a coalition of distinct cell groups that appear at different times and places during gastrulation.' Insights from the study could revolutionise how scientists understand and treat congenital heart defects, which affect nearly one in 100 babies. The findings could also accelerate progress in growing heart tissue in the lab for use in regenerative medicine. Dr Ivanovitch said: '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.' The research, which was supported by the British Heart Foundation, was published in the EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation) journal. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
13-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Watch: Moment heart begins to form captured for first time
Scientists have for the first time captured the moment a heart begins to form from embryonic stem cells. In astonishing footage, heart cells were seen starting to organise themselves into an organ-like shape just a few hours after they had divided from stem cells. The time-lapse images were captured by University College London (UCL) and the Francis Crick Institute, using the advanced light-sheet microscopy technique on a living model of a mouse embryo. The method uses a thin sheet of light to illuminate and take detailed pictures of tiny samples, creating clear 3D images without causing any damage to living tissue. The images capture a critical moment in development, gastrulation, when the soup of new cells that begin dividing after conception start to specialise and move to their correct places in the emerging foetus. In a human it happens around two weeks after pregnancy begins. Being able to see the heart forming so early could allow scientists to understand how congenital defects occur, and how to stop them. Senior author Dr Kenzo Ivanovitch, of UCL's Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, said: '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.' Using fluorescent markers, the team tagged heart muscle cells so that they would glow blue, and then took images every two minutes over 40 hours to create a time-lapse. At the beginning of the process, the cells were capable of becoming various types, but within a few hours heart cells began to differentiate and started behaving in highly organised ways. Rather than moving randomly, researchers found that they quickly started to follow distinct paths. It was almost as if they already knew where they were going and what role they would play, whether as part of the heart's pumping chambers or in its atria, where blood enters from the body. 'Fundamental change to understanding' Dr Ivanovitch added: 'Our findings demonstrate that cardiac fate determination and directional cell movement may be regulated much earlier in the embryo than current models suggest. 'This fundamentally changes our understanding of cardiac development by showing that what appears to be chaotic cell migration is actually governed by hidden patterns that ensure proper heart formation.' Shayma Abukar, the lead author and a doctoral candidate at UCL, said: 'We are now working to understand the signals that co-ordinate this complex choreography of cell movements during early heart development. 'The heart doesn't come from a single group of cells. It forms from a coalition of distinct cell groups that appear at different times and places during gastrulation.' Insights from the study could revolutionise how scientists understand and treat congenital heart defects, which affect nearly one in 100 babies. The findings could also accelerate progress in growing heart tissue in the lab for use in regenerative medicine. Dr Ivanovitch said: '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.' The research, which was supported by the British Heart Foundation, was published in the EMBO (European Molecular Biology Organisation) journal.
