Cardiovascular development: structure and molecular mechanism

Excerpt

For more than 100 years, anatomists, physiologists, biologists, pathologists, oncologists, and cardiologists have been fascinated by the study of cardiovascular development. The cardiovascular system, which consists of many cell types, such as endothelial cells, myocardial cells, and smooth muscle cells, to name only a few, develops from the mesoderm and the ectomesenchyme. The circulatory system is established and functions at the earliest stage of development as it is essential for normal embryonic development. In the clinical field of pediatric cardiology, there are a number of congenital heart defects that are commonly diagnosed in about 1% of live births. In other clinical fields, angiogenesis and lymphangiogenesis are critical processes because they influence the invasiveness of cancer as well as the survival of transplanted grafts. We often see cardiovascular anomalies in human bodies in the dissection lab as well as in genetically engineered mutant animals. To date, many Japanese scientists have investigated and made landmark discoveries in this field. In 1978, Professor Atsuyoshi Takao (1925–2006), who was the first pediatric cardiologist in Japan, initiated international symposia on cardiovascular development, which developed into a long-lasting series. The proceedings of these symposia illustrate the rapid and remarkable progress that has been made in this field. …