The Behavior of Cells that Form the Myocardial Compartments of the Vertebrate Heart

International audienceThis chapter discusses the behavior of cells that form the myocardium, including their proliferation, migration, morphology, and cellular interactions. The underlying question is how such aspects of cell biology, both in progenitor cells and in differentiated myocardium, contribute to the final shape of the heart with its morphologically distinct compartments. Obtaining answers to these questions will be facilitated by improvement in the techniques for generating clones of cells in the chick or for prospective lineage analysis in the mouse embryo. Genetic approaches have led to striking progress in defining regulatory networks that control cardiogenesis, and identification of target genes for transcriptional regulators is now beginning to reveal effector genes that are important for cardiogenesis. The comparison between different animal models helps to understand how the underlying cellular mechanisms and intercellular signaling that are common to vertebrates control the contribution of progenitor cells and shape the myocardium of the heart