"Form follows function": the developmental morphology of the cardiac atria.

Although the heart atria have a lesser functional importance than the ventricles, atria play an important role in the pathophysiology of heart failure and supraventricular arrhythmias, particularly atrial fibrillation. In addition, knowledge of atrial morphology recently became more relevant as cardiac electrophysiology and interventional procedures in the atria gained an increasingly significant role in the clinical management of patients with heart disease. The atrial chambers are thin-walled, and several vessels enter at the level of the atria.

Hemodynamics During Development and Postnatal Life.

A well-developed heart is essential for embryonic survival. There are constant interactions between cardiac tissue motion and blood flow, which determine the heart shape itself. Hemodynamic forces are a powerful stimulus for cardiac growth and differentiation.

Anguimorpha as a model group for studying the comparative heart morphology among Lepidosauria: Evolutionary window on the ventricular septation.

The group Anguimorpha represents one of the most unified squamate clades in terms of body plan, ecomorphology, ecophysiology and evolution. On the other hand, the anguimorphs vary between different habitats and ecological niches. Therefore, we focused on the group Anguimorpha to test a possible correlation between heart morphology and ecological niche with respect to phylogenetic position in Squamata with , , and as the outgroups.

Myocardial development in crocodylians.

Background: Recent reports confirmed the notion that there exists a rudimentary cardiac conduction system (CCS) in the crocodylian heart, and development of its ventricular part is linked to septation. We thus analyzed myocardial development with the emphasis on the CCS components and vascularization in two different crocodylian species.

Results: Using optical mapping and HNK-1 immunostaining, pacemaker activity was localized to the right-sided sinus venosus.

The Tale-Tell Heart: Evolutionary tetrapod shift from aquatic to terrestrial life-style reflected in heart changes in axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum).

Background: During amphibian metamorphosis, the crucial moment lies in the rearrangement of the heart, reflecting the changes in circulatory demands. However, little is known about the exact shifts linked with this rearrangement. Here, we demonstrate such myocardial changes in axolotl (Ambystoma mexicanum) from the morphological and physiological point of view.