title: [Heart and evolution--form and function of all mammalian hearts are identical].
abstract: The 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin this year (2009) is a perfect reason to focus on the evolution of the mammalian heart. All life on earth is the result of a process called evolution. The human being is a product of evolution and has all the characteristics of a mammal. Size, form and function of the mammalian heart may be viewed in relation to evolution. All morphological and functional properties of the heart in all currently existing mammalian species are practically identical. This implies that during the eons in which all mammals had to adapt to climate and geological changes by which they differentiated into almost limitless varieties, whether they be mice, whales or humans, the heart hardly, if at all, participated in this process and remained unaffected. This must lead to the conclusion that the heart of the first mammals on earth was already well equipped to fulfil the functional demands of all future mammalian species.
authors.affiliation: Cardiologie, Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands. denham@euronet.nl
authors.forename: Frits L
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Meijler
authors.forename: Theo Dirk
authors.initials: TD
authors.lastname: Meijler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006321:Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000502:physiology*