Maurice J B van den Hoff
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
Title: Changing concept in heart developmnet
Biography
Biography: Maurice J B van den Hoff
Abstract
The development of the heart is a complex four dimensional process in which the heart, while functioning, transforms from a linear heart tube into a four-chambered heart. The use of genetically modified mice has considerably changed the insights in heart development in the past decade. In this keynote, the genetic model systems that have contributed to the altering insights in the mechanisms underlying heart development will be discussed and these novel insights will be highlighted. Secondly, developmental biologists have classically been focused on the first 10 weeks of human development with respect to heart development, because in this period the building plan of the heart is completed. However, after the first 10 weeks the heart needs to grow enormously and mature. At the end of gestation, the proliferative growth of the heart changes to hypertrophic growth. This change in mechanism of cardiac growth has important consequence for the response of the heart during pathology.