Gourdie R G, Kubalak S, Mikawa T
Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston 29425, USA.
Trends Cardiovasc Med. 1999 Jan-Feb;9(1-2):18-26. doi: 10.1016/s1050-1738(98)00035-8.
The heterogeneous tissues of the pacemaking and conduction system comprise the "smart components" of the heart, responsible for setting, maintaining, and coordinating the rhythmic pumping of cardiac muscle. Over the last few years, a wealth of new information has been collected about the unique genetic and phenotypic characteristics expressed by these tissues during cardiac morphogenesis. More recently, genetically modified viruses, mutational analysis, and targeted transgenesis have enabled even more precise resolution of the relationships between cell fate, gene expression, and differentiation of specialized function within developing myocardium. While some information provided by these newer approaches has supported conventional wisdom, some fresh and unexpected perspectives have also emerged. In particular, there is mounting evidence that extracardiac populations of cells migrating into the tubular heart have important morphogenetic roles in the inductive pattering and functional integration of the developing conduction system.
心脏起搏和传导系统的异质性组织构成了心脏的“智能组件”，负责设定、维持和协调心肌的节律性泵血。在过去几年中，已经收集了大量关于这些组织在心脏形态发生过程中所表达的独特遗传和表型特征的新信息。最近，基因改造病毒、突变分析和靶向转基因技术使得人们能够更精确地解析发育中心肌内细胞命运、基因表达和特殊功能分化之间的关系。虽然这些新方法提供的一些信息支持了传统观点，但也出现了一些新的、意想不到的观点。特别是，越来越多的证据表明，迁移到管状心脏中的心脏外细胞群在发育中的传导系统的诱导模式形成和功能整合中具有重要的形态发生作用。
