Molecular and cellular biology of the right heart

Abstract

The present chapter attempts a detailed yet comprehensive account of the exceedingly complex molecular events involved in heart development, including description of the main differentiation signaling pathways, transcription factors, enhancers and gene regulatory networks, with a special emphasis on applying this continuously enlarging body of modern scientific knowledge to the field of stem cell differentiation into cardiomyocytes for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. MicroRNAs are also emerging as an important area of discovery aiming to revolutionize current therapies in cardiology, therefore we describe their involvement in cardiogenesis, proliferation/apoptosis, angiogenesis, fibrosis and hypertrophy. After reviewing the architectural organization, ultrastructure details and functional compartments of cardiomyocytes derived from in vitro and in vivo studies, we focus on molecular mechanisms involved in cardiac hypertrophy and fibrosis, particularly on calcium signaling events triggering these excessive adaptive responses. Further, we stress the embryogenetic and molecular differences between the right and left ventricle, as well as their pathophysiology specificities and clinical consequences.