The development of the heart and the placenta are interlinked, but there is still much to elucidate about their relationship. The placenta is essential for nutrient and oxygen exchange between the mother and the baby, but it also regulates the baby’s blood flow. In turn, nutrient and oxygen availability, as well as blood flow conditions, influence the development of the baby and its heart. The effect of the placenta is such that otherwise normal babies can develop heart defects due to teratogen exposure through placental exchange, or poor regulation of the baby’s blood flow by the placenta. While numerous advances have been recently accomplished in our understanding of how the placenta develops and functions under normal and pathophysiological conditions; and how the heart develops and is influenced by external and genetic factors, there is still much to be learned. Connections between placenta formation and cardiovascular development are only starting to emerge. With this context in mind, we would like to focus this Research Topic on what is known about heart development, placenta development, and their connection, to not only foster collaboration, but also mutual understanding and awareness among placenta and cardiac developmental researchers.
We expect this Research Topic to include different aspects of heart and placenta function and development, including but not limited to:
• New insights into heart development and placenta formation and how one influences the other.
• Genetic and environmental factors affecting heart development as well as placenta formation. Influence of the placenta on heart and baby development.
• State-of-the- art methods to study the cross-talk between the placenta and the heart during development.
• Epigenetic modifications and their role during development, as it related to the placenta and the heart.
• Fetal cardiovascular programming and the role of the placenta on it.
This Research Topic will provide a foundation for a more in depth and global understanding on how the placenta and the heart are formed and function, and the factors that disrupt normal heart and placenta formation and how they affect each other. We expect to include contributions that will discuss the extent to which heart formation depends on the placenta. The topic will include review papers related to cardiac development, congenital heart disease, and how placenta function and dysfunction affect the heart.
The development of the heart and the placenta are interlinked, but there is still much to elucidate about their relationship. The placenta is essential for nutrient and oxygen exchange between the mother and the baby, but it also regulates the baby’s blood flow. In turn, nutrient and oxygen availability, as well as blood flow conditions, influence the development of the baby and its heart. The effect of the placenta is such that otherwise normal babies can develop heart defects due to teratogen exposure through placental exchange, or poor regulation of the baby’s blood flow by the placenta. While numerous advances have been recently accomplished in our understanding of how the placenta develops and functions under normal and pathophysiological conditions; and how the heart develops and is influenced by external and genetic factors, there is still much to be learned. Connections between placenta formation and cardiovascular development are only starting to emerge. With this context in mind, we would like to focus this Research Topic on what is known about heart development, placenta development, and their connection, to not only foster collaboration, but also mutual understanding and awareness among placenta and cardiac developmental researchers.
We expect this Research Topic to include different aspects of heart and placenta function and development, including but not limited to:
• New insights into heart development and placenta formation and how one influences the other.
• Genetic and environmental factors affecting heart development as well as placenta formation. Influence of the placenta on heart and baby development.
• State-of-the- art methods to study the cross-talk between the placenta and the heart during development.
• Epigenetic modifications and their role during development, as it related to the placenta and the heart.
• Fetal cardiovascular programming and the role of the placenta on it.
This Research Topic will provide a foundation for a more in depth and global understanding on how the placenta and the heart are formed and function, and the factors that disrupt normal heart and placenta formation and how they affect each other. We expect to include contributions that will discuss the extent to which heart formation depends on the placenta. The topic will include review papers related to cardiac development, congenital heart disease, and how placenta function and dysfunction affect the heart.
