Abstract
Heart development, especially the critical phase of cardiac looping,
is a complex and intricate process that has not yet been visualized
“live” over long periods of time. We have constructed and
established a new environmental incubator chamber that provides stable
conditions for embryonic development with regard to temperature, humidity,
and oxygen levels. We have integrated a video microscope in the chamber to
visualize the developing heart in real time and present the first
“live” recordings of a chick embryo in shell-less culture
acquired over a period of 2 days. The time-lapse images we show depict a
significant time window that covers the most critical and typical
morphogenetic events during normal cardiac looping. Our system is of
interest to researchers in the field of embryogenesis, as it can be
adapted to a variety of animal models for organogenesis studies including
heart and limb development.