Cell Death and the Morphogenesis of the Heart

Abstract

For evident reasons the chick embryo heart is one of the most deeply studied (De Haan, 1967, 1970). The majority of authors in the last 20 years have concentrated on the analysis of the assymmetry and the primary bending (looping) of the primitive heart tube (Orts-Llorca, 1964, 1970; De Haan, 1967; Lepori, 1967; Orts-Llorca and Gil, 1967; Renaud and Le Douarin, 1968 a, b; Stalsberg, 1969 a, 1970; Castro-Quezada et al., 1972; Manasek, 1972; Manasek and Monroe, 1972; Manasek et al., 1972; Nadal-Ginard and Paz-Garcia, 1972; Rio, 1974). The second major field of progress was in the area of vascularization of the embryonic heart (Los and Verwoerd, 1971; Rychter and Jelinek, 1971a, b, 1972; Rychter and Ošťádal, 1971a, b; Rychter et al., 1971; Steinhoff, 1971; Klika etal., 1972). Most of the organogenetic period between these very early and rather late stages as well as the processes of heart septation have been less frequently examined (Rychter, 1959; Rychter and Lemež, 1960; Los, 1971a; Laane, 1973; Roest-Wagenaar, 1973). Quite good coverage can be found in studies on the histogenesis of cardiac tissues (Manasek, 1968, 1969b, 1970a, 1971, 1972; Spira, 1971; Hay and Low, 1972) although the fate of the cardiac jelly and its cellular colonization at stages later than the 2nd e.d. remain to be investigated in detail. From the different potential morphogenetic mechanisms it was proliferation especially which received attention (Goerttler, 1956 b; Grohmann, 1961; Sissman, 1966; Ryehterová and Rychter, 1969; Stalsberg, 1969 b; Stalsberg and De Haan, 1969; Rychterová, 1971). The morphogenetic movements accompanying early heart development have also been studied (De Haan, 1965; Lesseps, 1972).