Embryonic Vertebrate Heart Tube Is a Dynamic Suction Pump

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 312; no. 5774; pp. 751 - 753
• Main Authors: Forouhar, Arian S, Liebling, Michael, Hickerson, Anna, Nasiraei-Moghaddam, Abbas, Tsai, Huai-Jen, Hove, Jay R, Fraser, Scott E, Dickinson, Mary E, Gharib, Morteza
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 05.05.2006; The American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Subjects: Animals; Biological and medical sciences; Biomechanical Phenomena; Blood cells; Blood flow velocity; Cardiac Output; Cells; Danio rerio; Embryology: invertebrates and vertebrates. Teratology; Embryos; Fish; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Heart; Heart - embryology; Heart - physiology; Imaging; Microscopy, Confocal; Models, Cardiovascular; Myocardial Contraction; Organogenesis. Fetal development; Organogenesis. Physiological fonctions; Pressure; Pressure gradients; Pumping; Pumps; Surgical suction; Traveling waves; Wave velocity; Zebrafish - embryology; Heart; Embryonic development; Vertebrata; Peristaltic pump; Propagation; Pisces; Developmental stage; Circulatory system; Hemodynamics; Elastic wave; Structure function relationship; Blood flow
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.1123775

The embryonic vertebrate heart begins pumping blood long before the development of discernable chambers and valves. At these early stages, the heart tube has been described as a peristaltic pump. Recent advances in confocal laser scanning microscopy and four-dimensional visualization have warranted another look at early cardiac structure and function. We examined the movement of cells in the embryonic zebrafish heart tube and the flow of blood through the heart and obtained results that contradict peristalsis as a pumping mechanism in the embryonic heart. We propose a more likely explanation of early cardiac dynamics in which the pumping action results from suction due to elastic wave propagation in the heart tube.