Exploring and manipulating cardiovascular material properties at an embryonic level

The embryonic system is the precursor for the mature cardiovascular system. This thesis focuses on studying the material properties at the embryonic level and then devising a method to manipulate these properties such that physiological changes caused by congenital heart diseases (CHD's) can be eliminated prior to birth. The main focus is compiling the cardiovascular embryonic material properties and their relation to specific mechanosensitive and mechanoresponsive genes through an extensive review of all available literature. The compilation of embryonic mechanical properties will also contribute to our understanding of the mature cardiovascular system and possibly lead to new microstructural and genetic interventions to correct abnormal development. Using this data, a comparison and manipulation of genes was enabled which in turn controlled the physiology of the aortic arch region in chick embryos. The targeted material properties were elasticity and stiffness which were controlled by TGFb3 and MMP2 respectively. Our results showed that localized genetic modification of the aortic arch region governs the physiology of the embryo and hence will reduce the risk of CHD (congenital heart disease) development at later stages of growth and prevent the need for surgical interventions after birth. This approach can be combined with mechanical intervention models including conotruncal banding and left atrial ligation models of chick embryo.