title: Vitamin A-not for your eyes only: requirement for heart formation begins early in embryogenesis.
abstract: Vitamin A insufficiency has profound adverse effects on embryonic development. Major advances in understanding the role of vitamin A in vertebrate heart formation have been made since the discovery that the vitamin A active form, all-trans-retinoic acid, regulates many genes, including developmental genes. Among the experimental models used, the vitamin A-deficient avian embryo has been an important tool to study the function of vitamin A during early heart formation. A cluster of retinoic acid-regulated developmental genes have been identified that participate in building the heart. In the absence of retinoic acid the embryonic heart develops abnormally leading to embryolethality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Food Science and Human Nutrition, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. zile@anr.msu.edu
authors.forename: Maija H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Zile
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015820:Cadherins / Q000378:metabolism; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006321:Heart / Q000196:embryology*; D051379:Mice; D011247:Pregnancy; D011784:Quail / Q000196:embryology; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid / Q000235:genetics*; D053781:Transforming Growth Factor beta2 / Q000378:metabolism; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000502:physiology*; D014802:Vitamin A Deficiency / Q000196:embryology
chemical_list: D015820:Cadherins; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid; D053781:Transforming Growth Factor beta2; D014212:Tretinoin