Pseudo-dynamic analysis of heart tube formation in the mouse reveals strong regional variability and early left-right asymmetry

Understanding organ morphogenesis requires a precise geometrical description of the tissues involved in the process. In highly regulative embryos, like those of mammals, morphological variability hinders the quantitative analysis of morphogenesis. In particular, the study of early heart development in mammals remains a challenging problem, due to imaging limitations and innate complexity. Around embryonic day 7.5 (E7.5), the cardiac crescent folds in an intricate and coordinated manner to produce a pumping linear heart tube at E8.25, followed by heart looping at E8.5. In this work we provide a complete morphological description of this process based on detailed imaging of a temporally dense collection of embryonic heart morphologies. We apply new approaches for morphometric staging and quantification of local morphological variations between specimens at the same stage. We identify hot spots of regionalized variability and identify left-right asymmetry in the inflow region starting at the late cardiac crescent stage, which represents the earliest signs of organ left-right asymmetry in the mammalian embryo. Finally, we generate a 3D+t digital model that provides a framework suitable for co-representation of data from different sources and for the computer modelling of the process.