Embryonic Vertebrate Heart Tube Is a Dynamic Suction Pump

The embryonic vertebrate heart begins pumping blood long before the development of discernable chambers and valves. At these early stages, the heart tube has been described as a peristaltic pump. Recent advances in confocal laser scanning microscopy and four-dimensional visualization have warranted...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2006-05, Vol.312 (5774), p.751-753
Main Authors: Forouhar, Arian S, Liebling, Michael, Hickerson, Anna, Nasiraei-Moghaddam, Abbas, Tsai, Huai-Jen, Hove, Jay R, Fraser, Scott E, Dickinson, Mary E, Gharib, Morteza
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Biological and medical sciences
Biomechanical Phenomena
Blood cells
Blood flow velocity
Cardiac Output
Cells
Danio rerio
Embryology: invertebrates and vertebrates. Teratology
Embryos
Fish
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Heart
Heart - embryology
Heart - physiology
Imaging
Microscopy, Confocal
Models, Cardiovascular
Myocardial Contraction
Organogenesis. Fetal development
Organogenesis. Physiological fonctions
Pressure
Pressure gradients
Pumping
Pumps
Surgical suction
Traveling waves
Wave velocity
Zebrafish - embryology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The embryonic vertebrate heart begins pumping blood long before the development of discernable chambers and valves. At these early stages, the heart tube has been described as a peristaltic pump. Recent advances in confocal laser scanning microscopy and four-dimensional visualization have warranted another look at early cardiac structure and function. We examined the movement of cells in the embryonic zebrafish heart tube and the flow of blood through the heart and obtained results that contradict peristalsis as a pumping mechanism in the embryonic heart. We propose a more likely explanation of early cardiac dynamics in which the pumping action results from suction due to elastic wave propagation in the heart tube.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1123775