Authors: Shannon E Martin, Jessica Plavicki
Published: 2020-10-27
DOI: 10.1161/res.127.suppl_1.mp112
Source: Full article
Despite the unremitting research surrounding heart development and disease, congenitalheart defects (CHD) remain the most common birth defect worldwide. Arrhythmias are aleading cause of morbidity and mortality in CHD patients, though the etiologies ofarrhythmia are not well understood. Notably, there have been considerable advances inour understanding of cardiac macrophage biology in both regulating developmentalprocesses and modulating adult cardiac conduction. However, it is not known 1) whenmacrophage-derived signals influence heart electrical function, nor 2) if macrophages areintegral to the development and function of the embryonic or juvenile conduction system.Using transparent zebrafish, a genetically tractable and well-established developmentalmodel, we employ advanced microscopy techniques to visualize cardiac macrophages inreal-time and