TY  - JOUR
A1  - Dietrich, Ann-Christin
A1  - Lombardo, Veronica A.
A1  - Abdelilah-Seyfried, Salim
T1  - Blood flow and Bmp signaling control endocardial chamber morphogenesis
JF  - Developmental cell
N2  - During heart development, the onset of heartbeat and blood flow coincides with a ballooning of the cardiac chambers. Here, we have used the zebrafish as a vertebrate model to characterize chamber ballooning morphogenesis of the endocardium, a specialized population of endothelial cells that line the interior of the heart. By combining functional manipulations, fate mapping studies, and high-resolution imaging, we show that endocardial growth occurs without an influx of external cells. Instead, endocardial cell proliferation is regulated, both by blood flow and by Bmp signaling, in a manner independent of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling. Similar to myocardial cells, endocardial cells obtain distinct chamber-specific and inner- versus outer-curvature-specific surface area sizes. We find that the hemodynamic-sensitive transcription factor Klf2a is involved in regulating endocardial cell morphology. These findings establish the endocardium as the flow-sensitive tissue in the heart with a key role in adapting chamber growth in response to the mechanical stimulus of blood flow.
Y1  - 2014
U6  - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2014.06.020
SN  - 1534-5807
SN  - 1878-1551
VL  - 30
IS  - 4
SP  - 367
EP  - 377
PB  - Cell Press
CY  - Cambridge
ER  -