Formation of the Heart and its Regulation

The `Formation of the Heart and its Regulation` reviews in considerable detail the major events in heart development and their control via genes, cell-cell interactions, growth factors and other contributing elements. In addition, there is an extensive and useful overview of the field of heart development taken as a whole. The book will appeal to all students and researchers working on cardiovascular development and to pediatric cardiologists.

1. Overview of Heart Development.- 2. Myofibrillogenesis in the Heart.- 3. Cardiac Looping and the Left-Right Axis: Integrating Morphologic, Molecular, and Genetic Analyses ofVertebrate Left-Right Asymmetry.- 4. Differentially Expressed Genes and Cardiac Morphogenesis.- 5. Molecular Mechanisms of Cardiac Diversification.- 6. Neural Crest and Heart Development.- 7. Cardiac Conduction System Development.- 8. The Epicardium and the Formation of the Coronary Vasculature.- 9. The Role of the Extracellular Matrix and Its Receptors in Modulating Cardiac Development.- 10. Growth Factor Regulation of Embryonic, Fetal and Neonatal Cardiac Development.- 11. Transforming Growth Factor-13 Signal Transduction in the Atrioventricular Canal During Heart Development.- 12. Homocysteine and the N-Methyl-D-Aspartate (NMDA) Receptor: Are They Keys to Conotruncal Abnormalities?.- 13. Function and Biomechanics of Developing Cardiovascular Systems.