Abstract：
During early embryonic development, the heart undergoes a remarkable and complex transformation, acquiring its iconic four-chamber structure whilst concomitantly contracting to maintain its essential function. The emergence of cardiac form and function involves intricate interplays between molecular, cellular, and biomechanical events, unfolding with precision in both space and time. The dynamic morphological remodelling of the developing heart renders it particularly vulnerable to congenital defects, with heart malformations being the most common type of congenital birth defect (∼35% of all congenital birth defects). This mini-review aims to give an overview of the morphogenetic processes which govern early heart formation as well as the dynamics and mechanisms of early cardiac function. Moreover, we aim to highlight some of the interplay between these two processes and discuss how recent findings and emerging techniques/models offer promising avenues for future exploration. In summary, the developing heart is an exciting model to gain fundamental insight into the dynamic relationship between form and function, which will augment our understanding of cardiac congenital defects and provide a blueprint for potential therapeutic strategies to treat disease.
摘要：
在早期胚胎发育过程中,心脏经历了一个显著而复杂的转变，获得其标志性的四室结构，同时伴随收缩以保持其基本功能。心脏形式和功能的出现涉及分子之间复杂的相互作用，细胞，和生物力学事件，在空间和时间上都精确地展开。发育中的心脏的动态形态重塑使其特别容易受到先天性缺陷的影响，心脏畸形是最常见的先天性出生缺陷类型（占所有先天性出生缺陷的35%）。这篇小型综述旨在概述控制早期心脏形成的形态发生过程以及早期心脏功能的动力学和机制。此外，我们旨在强调这两个过程之间的一些相互作用，并讨论最近的发现和新兴技术/模型如何为未来的探索提供有希望的途径。总之,发展中的心是一个令人兴奋的模型，可以从根本上了解形式和功能之间的动态关系，这将增加我们对心脏先天性缺陷的理解，并为治疗疾病的潜在治疗策略提供蓝图。
