Abstract
WE wished to study the interactions between pieces of foetal heart tissue of different origins, to see if they could influence the healing of myocardial infarctions, or the pacing of the ventricles in heart block. We had established a baseline for the performance of intact foetal hearts and slabs of foetal heart tissue in culture, and related it to the stage of development in rat, mouse, cat, rabbit and man, showing that less developed foetal hearts live longer, and beat better than older foetal hearts1. We extended this technique to examine the effects of parts of foetal hearts on each other, because it gives consistent results, uncomplicated by rejection, other than that originating in the cells concerned. We used hearts of litter mates, hearts from different species, at different stages of development, and across the species barrier. As controls we used hearts sectioned and re-assembled.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to the full article PDF.
USD 39.95
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Hughes, D. M., and Longmore, D. B., Nature, 235, 5337 (1972).
Wildenthal, K. J., Physiology, 207, 33 (1969).
Wildenthal, K. J., Mol. Cell. Cardio., 1, 101 (1970).
Wolff, E. T., and Weniger, J. P., CR Acad. Sci., 237, 936 (1953).
Wolff, E. T., and Weniger, J. P., J. Embr. Exp. Morphol., 2, 161 (1954).
Wolff, E. T., Bull. Soc. Zool. Fr., 79, 357 (1954).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
LONGMORE, D., HUGHES, D. Performance of Composite Foetal Hearts. Nature 238, 40–41 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/238040a0
Received:
Revised:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/238040a0
