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(Circulation Research. 2008;102:513.)
© 2008 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

Myocardial–Coronary Interactions

Against the Canon

José M. Pérez-Pomares

From the Department of Animal Biology, Cardiovascular Development and Angiogenesis Group, Faculty of Science, University of Málaga, Spain.

Correspondence to José M. Pérez-Pomares, PhD, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Málaga. Campus de Teatinos s/n, 29071 Málaga, Spain. E-mail jmperezp@uma.es

See related article, pages 615–623

Key Words: embryo • heart • PCP • vangl2 • coronary development

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

Interaction between cardiac embryonic tissues is essential to the normal progression of heart morphogenesis. Initially, the tubular outline of the vertebrate heart is constituted of only myocardium and endocardium. Both tissues are derivatives of the specified mesodermal precardiac progenitors that conform the so-called "heart fields."¹ Later on (from HH18 [Hamburger and Hamilton stages of chick development] in the chick embryo and embryonic day 9.5 in the mouse), a third, primarily non–heart field–related cardiac cell lineage, the epicardium, spreads over the myocardium to form the outermost cell layer of the heart.² From very early on, intercrossed signals from these 3 tissues act in an instructive manner, actively promoting and guiding the development of multiple cardiac structures. Among them, heart valves,³ ventricular trabeculae,⁴ compact myocardium,⁵ and epicardium/coronary vessels⁶ must be regarded as the most relevant ones.

Coronary vessels are absolutely required to sustain cardiac homeostasis, as evidenced by the dramatic effects of coronary ischemia or coronary congenital malformations,⁷ and for that reason, the morphogenesis of coronary vessels is of enormous importance. The formation of coronary blood vessels remains an exciting research subject in the field of cardiovascular development. Coronary development is a complex, progressive event, and it is well known that the formation of the epicardium is closely linked to that of coronary vessels. This is so because the subepicardium (ie, the extracellular matrix sandwiched between the epicardial epithelium and the myocardium) is the physical environment in which coronary vasculogenesis is initiated but also because the epicardium and its progenitor tissue, the . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Non–Cell-Autonomous Roles for the Planar Cell Polarity Gene Vangl2 in Development of the Coronary Circulation

Helen M. Phillips, Victoria Hildreth, Jonathan D. Peat, Jennifer N. Murdoch, Kazuto Kobayashi, Bill Chaudhry, and Deborah J. Henderson
Circ. Res. 2008 102: 615-623. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]