Optical Tools to Assess Heart Development

For years, researchers have shown that altered cardiac function can lead to congenital heart defects (CHDs); yet many years later, we still have limited information on when, how and to what degree the developing cardiovascular system is most vulnerable to abnormal cardiac function. Studying the impact of abnormal function becomes even more urgent when we consider that altered function may be a contributing factor to a large percentage of CHDs regardless of whether the initial trigger is environmental or genetic. Most tools available to developmental cardiology researchers assay embryos after they have been sacrificed, which makes assessment of the impact of function extremely difficult. To assess the impact of hemodynamics on development, we need to monitor and reproducibly perturb blood flow, and then quantify the resultant effects on morphology. Our lab has developed optical pacing technology to increase regurgitant flow in early heart development along with optical coherence tomography technology to measure the perturbed hemodynamics and structural defects. Briefly, pacing‐induced regurgitation led to a series of CHDs including valve defects, ventricular septal defects, hypoplastic right ventricles and common atrioventricular canals. Utilizing optical tools to understand the influence of hemodynamics in development is an important step towards determining CHD mechanisms and ultimately developing earlier treatments.