title: Building and repairing the heart: what can we learn from embryonic development?
abstract: Mammalian heart formation is a complex morphogenetic event that depends on the correct temporal and spatial contribution of distinct cell sources. During cardiac formation, cellular specification, differentiation, and rearrangement are tightly regulated by an intricate signaling network. Over the last years, many aspects of this network have been uncovered not only due to advances in cardiac development comprehension but also due to the use of embryonic stem cells (ESCs) in vitro model system. Additionally, several of these pathways have been shown to be functional or reactivated in the setting of cardiac disease. Knowledge withdrawn from studying heart development, ESCs differentiation, and cardiac pathophysiology may be helpful to envisage new strategies for improved cardiac repair/regeneration. In this review, we provide a comparative synopsis of the major signaling pathways required for cardiac lineage commitment in the embryo and murine ESCs. The involvement and possible reactivation of these pathways following heart injury and their role in tissue recovery will also be discussed.
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica (INEB), Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 823, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal ; Department of Developmental and Regenerative Biology and The Black Family Stem Cell Institute, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY 10029, USA ; Faculdade de Engenharia da Universidade do Porto (FEUP), Rua Dr. Roberto Frias, s/n, 4200-465 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Freire
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica (INEB), Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 823, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Tatiana P
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: Resende
authors.affiliation: Instituto de Engenharia Biomédica (INEB), Universidade do Porto, Rua do Campo Alegre 823, 4150-180 Porto, Portugal ; Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Perpétua
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pinto-do-Ó
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D047108:Embryonic Development / Q000235:genetics; D006321:Heart / Q000196:embryology*; D006801:Humans; D009206:Myocardium / Q000473:pathology; D038081:Organogenesis / Q000235:genetics; D013312:Stress, Physiological