Protein signalling in heart development Protein signalling in heart development The heart is the first functional organ in a vertebrate embryo. There are 5 stages to heart development. Specification of cardiac precursor cells: The lateral plate mesoderm delaminates to form two layers: the dorsal somatic (parietal) mesoderm and the ventral splanchnic (visceral) mesoderm. The heart precursor cells come from the two regions of the splanchnic mesoderm called the cardiogenic mesoderm. These cells can differentiate into endocardium which lines the heart chamber and valves and the myocardium which forms the musculature of the ventricles and the atria. The heart cells are specified in anterior mesoderm by
Short QT syndrome activation lose their pumping ability - fibrillation of the cardiac atria in atrial fibrillation leads to an irregular pulse, and fibrillation of the cardiac ventricles in ventricular fibrillation renders the heart unable to pump blood at all. There are several possible mechanisms by which short action potentials might promote fibrillation. The link between these mechanisms is how the duration of the action potential influences how frequently a heart muscle cell can be excited. A shorter action potential generally allow a heart muscle cell to be excited more frequently - the refractory period is shorter. The first mechanism, referred to as