OBJECTIVES To describe the normal cardiac morphology as seen by transvaginal ultrasound imaging in the first trimester fetus and to compare it with the morphology of the heart as seen by microdissection at the same gestational age. DESIGN In 53 mothers undergoing early sonography, the fetal heart was examined and the images recorded. The gestational age range was 5-12 weeks of gestation, whic...

We previously reported damage and elevated biogenesis in cardiac mitochondria of a type 1 diabetic mouse model and proposed that mitochondria are one of the major targets of oxidative stress. In this study, we targeted overexpression of the mitochondrial antioxidant protein manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) to the heart to protect cardiac mitochondria from oxidative damage. Transgenic hear...

The basic helix-loop-helix transcriptional repressor Hairy-related transcription factor 2 (Hrt2) is expressed in ventricular, but not atrial, cardiomyocytes, and in endothelial and vascular smooth muscle cells. Mice homozygous for a null mutation of Hrt2 die perinatally from a spectrum of cardiac abnormalities, raising questions about the specific functions of this transcriptional regulator in ...

Light has long been used to image the heart, but now it can be used to modulate its electrophysiological function. Imaging modalities and techniques have long constituted an indispensable part of arrhythmia research and treatment. Recently, advances in the fields of optogenetics and photodynamic therapy have provided scientists with more effective approaches for probing, studying and potentiall...

Telocyte (TC) is a newly identified type of cell in the cardiac interstitium (www.telocytes.com). TCs are described by classical transmission electron microscopy as cells with very thin and long telopodes (Tps; cellular prolongations) having podoms (dilations) and podomers (very thin segments). TCs' three-dimensional (3D) morphology is still unknown. Cardiac TCs seem to be particularly involved...