Echocardiographic Assessment of Embryonic and Fetal Mouse Heart Development: A Focus on Haemodynamics and Morphology
Figure 2
Cardiac morphology and FS% calculation. (a) Shows a reconstruction of the anterior view of an embryonic heart of 12.5 dpc. The myocardium is indicated in grey transparent. The LA and RA are indicated in transparent dark grey. The LV and RV lumen are indicated in red and blue, respectively. Note that the outflow tract lumen (purple) is positioned completely above the future RV, which is surrounded by large outflow tract cushions (green transparent). At these stages development of the IVS has not yet completed leading to a direct connection between the LV and RV via the interventricular foramen (arrow). (b) Anterior view of an early fetal heart of 14.5 dpc. At this stage IVS development has been completed and four separate cardiac chambers can be identified. The outflow tract consists of a separate Ao and PT including their valve apparatus, which at these stages mainly consist of cushion tissue (green transparent). (c) Anterior view of a late fetal heart of 17.5 dpc. At this stage the heart shows a mature morphological phenotype. (d) Schematic representation of LV and RV diameters and (e) FS% at the three consecutive stages of development.
