Researchers discover that heart cells in developing zebrafish start beating suddenly and all at once
Becoming a full-fledged organism out of a handful of cells, complete with functioning tissues and organs, is a messy yet highly synchronized process that requires cells to organize themselves in a precise manner and begin working together.
In a study conducted in zebrafish, the team discovered that heart cells start beating suddenly and all at once as calcium levels and electrical signals increase. Moreover, each heart cell has the ability to beat on its own, without a pacemaker, and the heartbeat can start in different places, the researchers discovered. The findings are published Sep.
"We wanted to answer a basic question: How do heart cells go from silent to beating?" Megason explained."When your heart starts is a once-in-a-lifetime event, but it's not obvious how that happens." "Unlike the adult heart, where a specialized population of pacemaker cells drives the heartbeat, most cells in the embryonic heart have the ability to beat on their own, making it difficult to predict the location of the first beats," said lead author Bill Jia, a joint graduate student in the Cohen and Megason labs.
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