Edited by Richard P. Harvey and Nadia Rosenthal. 530 pp., illustrated. San Diego, Calif., Academic Press, 1999. $159.95. ISBN 0-12-329860-1.
In less than a week, amorphous clusters of mesodermal cellsin an early mouse embryo are transformed into a four-chamberedheart, complete with valves, coronary vessels, a pacemaker,and a specialized conducting system. At a stage of developmentwhen many other organs are barely recognizable, the heart ofa mouse embryo is fully capable of pumping blood to the entireorganism, and its basic design is virtually indistinguishablefrom that of the heart of a human adult, except of course forits diminutive size. In a human embryo, this developmental processrequires just slightly longer, whereas other vertebrates suchas . . . [Full Text of this Article]
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