Abukar et al., Embo J, 2025
New video helps to perceive previously unknown details about the development of heart cells, which are great to perceive the role they should play.
The light leaf microscopy technique (LSM) has allowed a team of scientists to capture a “mesmerizing” video, as described it.
The team marked the different types of cells with fluorescent markers and then captured images of Two in two minutes for 41 hours. The result is a time-lapse that shows a kind of “dance” of heart cells, which come together to form a heart in the embryo.
One of the most curious aspects was that individual cells already seem to “know” where they had to go and what role play.
The investigation did not only result in a beautiful video: it is important to find outR New details on cardiac developmentdenote the authors of the published in EMBO This month. In fact, with the support of future analysis, this study can even lead to new options Treatment for congenital heart defectsthe investigators enhance.
“Our findings demonstrate that determination of cardiac destiny and directional cell movement can be regulated much earlier at the embryo What current models suggest, ”says Kenzo Ivanovitch, UCL development biologist.
“This fundamentally alters our understanding of heart development, showing that what seems to be a chaotic cell migration is, in fact, governed by hidden patterns that ensure the correct formation of the heart. ”
