THE ROLE OF FLOW DYNAMICS IN REGULATING EARLY CARDIAC DEVELOPMENT – A STUDY WITH ZEBRAFISH EMBRYONIC HEARTS

Abstract

We performed a 4D modelling of several zebrafish embryonic hearts at 5 dpf and characterized their fluid mechanics via CFD simulations. 2,3-butanedione monoxime (BDM) was administered to zebrafish embryos from 2 dpf to 5 dpf. Poor cardiac performance and severe heart malformations was observed, including abnormally large looping angle and undersized ventricles. CFD simulation revealed that treated hearts suffered from weak, oscillatory wall shear stress coupled with low myocardial contractility. RNA sequencing of cardiomyocytes showed that more than 2000 genes were dysregulated and several mechanobiological signalling mechanisms involved in proper cardiac growth were proposed in the study but still need further experimental validations in the future.