The heart endocardium is derived from vascular endothelial progenitors.

ABSTRACT: The embryonic heart is composed of two cell layers: the myocardium, which contributes to cardiac muscle tissue, and the endocardium, which covers the inner lumen of the heart. Whereas significant progress has been made toward elucidating the embryonic origins of the myocardium, the origins of the endocardium remain unclear. Here, we have identified an endocardium-forming field medial to the cardiac crescent, in a continuum with the endothelial plexus. In vivo live imaging of quail embryos revealed that endothelial progenitors, like second/anterior heart field progenitors, migrate to, and enter, the heart from the arterial pole. Furthermore, embryonic endothelial cells implanted into the cardiac crescent contribute to the endocardium, but not to the myocardium. In mouse, lineage analysis fo

SUBMITTER: Milgrom-Hoffman M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3190386 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature