Original Paper

Embryonic Cardiac Morphometry in Carnegie Stages 15-23, from the Complutense University of Madrid Institute of Embryology Human Embryo Collection
L.A. Arráez-Aybar^{a, c}, A. Turrero-Nogués^b, D.G. Marantos-Gamarra^c

Departments of
^aHuman Anatomy and Embryology II and
^bStatistics and Operations Research, Faculty of Medicine, and
^cInstitute of Embryology, University Complutense, Madrid, Spain

Address of Corresponding Author

Cells Tissues Organs 2008;187:211-220 (DOI: 10.1159/000112212)

  Key Words

• Embryology, cardiac
• Embryology, human
• Morphology, quantitative
• Heart development
• Stereology

  Abstract

Aims: We performed a morphometric study of cardiac development on human embryos to complement the scarce data on human embryonic cardiac morphometry and to attempt to establish, from these, algorithms describing cardiac growth during the second month of gestation. Methods: Thirty human embryos from Carnegie stages 15-23 were included in the study. Shrinkage and compression effects from fixation and inclusion in paraffin were considered in our calculations. Results: Growth of the cardiac (whole heart) volume and volume of ventricular myocardium through the Carnegie stages were analysed by ANOVA. Linear correlation was used to describe the relationship between the ventricular myocardium and cardiac volumes. Comparisons of models were carried out through the R² statistic. The relationship volume of ventricular myocardium versus cardiac volume is expressed by the equation: cardiac volume = 0.6266 + 2.4778 volume of ventricular myocardium. The relationship cardiac volume versus crown-rump length is expressed by the equation: cardiac volume = 1.3 e^{0.126 CR length}, where e is the base of natural logarithms. Conclusion: At a clinical level, these results can contribute towards the establishment of a normogram for cardiac development, useful for the design of strategies for early diagnosis of congenital heart disease. They can also help in the study of embryogenesis, for example in the discussion of ventricular trabeculation.

Copyright © 2007 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Prof. L.A. Arráez-Aybar
Department of Human Anatomy and Embryology II
Faculty of Medicine, University Complutense
ES-28040 Madrid (Spain)
Tel. +34 91 394 1345, Fax +34 91 394 1339, E-Mail arraezla@med.ucm.es

  Article Information

Accepted after revision: August 16, 2007
Published online: December 5, 2007
Number of Print Pages : 10
Number of Figures : 10, Number of Tables : 4, Number of References : 34