Book Review

Heart Development

N Engl J Med 1999; 340:1217April 15, 1999

Article

Heart Development
Edited by Richard P. Harvey and Nadia Rosenthal. 530 pp., illustrated. San Diego, Calif., Academic Press, 1999. $159.95. ISBN: 0-12-329860-1

In less than a week, amorphous clusters of mesodermal cells in an early mouse embryo are transformed into a four-chambered heart, complete with valves, coronary vessels, a pacemaker, and a specialized conducting system. At a stage of development when many other organs are barely recognizable, the heart of a mouse embryo is fully capable of pumping blood to the entire organism, and its basic design is virtually indistinguishable from that of the heart of a human adult, except of course for its diminutive size. In a human embryo, this developmental process requires just slightly longer, whereas other vertebrates such as fish, frogs, or birds manage the task even more efficiently than the mouse (though with fewer chambers in some species). Even insects get into the act: fruit flies form a rhythmically contracting, muscular structure (the dorsal vessel) in a manner that resembles several of the major events in vertebrate heart development, in both structural and molecular terms. This exquisite morphogenetic phenomenon evokes wonder and awe and probably holds within its molecular mechanisms — if we are clever enough to decipher the complex code — the keys to important medical advances in the next millennium.

In their new book, Heart Development, Harvey, Rosenthal, and the contributing authors provide a comprehensive and well-balanced guide to this subject in all its current dimensions, from classic embryology to molecular signaling. The book pays appropriate homage to important recent advances that have come from studies of nonmammalian organisms, and several chapters are devoted to detailed analyses of heart development in the fruit fly, zebrafish, chick, and amphibian. The manner in which the technical or biologic advantages of each of these model systems have enhanced our understanding of mammalian cardiogenesis is readily apparent, and these chapters are purposefully and successfully integrated with those that deal specifically with murine and human heart development. Likewise, chapters that focus on the signaling pathways and transcription factors involved in cell fate and differentiation are well integrated with those that focus on morphology. The book is quite complete in scope and includes chapters devoted expressly to the coronary vasculature, the specialized conducting system of the heart, neural-crest–derived cells, the coordination of cell-cycle control with terminal differentiation in cardiac myocytes, and comparison of the molecular signals controlling cardiogenesis with those involved in the formation of skeletal muscles.

The numerous illustrations are remarkably well crafted, even gorgeous. Almost every page includes full-color drawings that clarify the descriptions of complex morphogenetic or molecular events. The attention so obviously devoted by the authors and editors to these explanatory illustrations is esthetically rewarding and will be particularly valuable to readers with little background in developmental biology.

Serious scholars and investigators in the field will want this book because it is the most accessible, authoritative, and complete summary of cardiac development currently available, one that can serve as a reference for themselves, their students, and their laboratory personnel. Clinicians with an interest in congenital heart disease will likewise find this book to be an invaluable resource. Other cardiovascular specialists or generalists may find the level of detail excessive for general reading. However, the sheer beauty of the book, the usefulness of the index, and the clarity of the illustrations should provide both information and pleasure to a broad readership.

R. Sanders Williams, M.D.
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75230-8573

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