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Development Timeline of Human Heart Embryology
| Human Development (days) |
Developmental Process |
| 0 |
Fertilization |
| 1-4 |
Cleavage and movement down the oviduct to the uterus |
| 5-12 |
Implantation of the embryo into the uterus |
| 13-14 |
Primitive streak formation (midstreak level contains precardiac cells) |
| 15-17 |
Formation of the three primary germ layers (gastrulation): ectoderm, mesoderm, endoderm;
Midlevel primitive streak cells that migrate to an anterior and lateral position form the first heart field and more medially the second heart field |
| 17-18 |
Lateral plate mesoderm splits into somatopleuric and mesoderm and splanchnopleuric mesoderm;
Splanchnopleuric mesoderm contains the myocardial and endocardial cardiogenic precursors in the region of the first heart field and second heart field |
| 18-26 |
Neurulation (formation of the neural tube) |
| 20 |
Cephalocaudal and lateral folding brings the bilateral endocardial tubes into the ventral midline of the embryo |
| 21-22 |
Heart tube fusion |
| 22 |
Heart begins to beat |
| 22-28 |
Heart looping and accretion of cells from the first and second heart fields;
Proepicardial cells invest from the outer layer of the heart tube and eventually form the epicardium and coronary vasculature;
Neural crest migration starts |
| 32-37 |
Cardiac neural crest migrates through the aortic arches and enters the outflow tract of the heart |
| 57+ |
Outflow tract and ventricular septation complete |
| Birth |
Functional septation of the atrial chambers, as well as the pulmonary and systemic circulatory systems |
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