A surprising finding: the first beat of the fetus occurs only 16 days after conception

Many of the most serious health problems suffered by children and adults are those that occur in the heart, since they affect daily life and can even endanger life.

A line of research in this regard is that related to the moment of the formation of the heart in the uterus, and in a recent study they have discovered something surprising: the first beat of the fetus occurs only 16 days after conception.

The heart is the first organ that forms

As we read in Daily Mail, this discovery advances the time of the first beat a few days, because until now it was considered to be happening on day 21, and this can help you know how the heart behaves in its beginnings, which is the first organ that forms.

To reach this conclusion a study has been carried out with mice and they have seen that the first beat in the embryo of the mice does not happen at 8 days as they thought (it was extrapolated to 21 days in humans), but before, giving the 16-day figure in humans.

In Babies and more Week 6 of pregnancy: the heart starts beating regularly

This study has been funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and has been conducted at the University of Oxford.

How does the heart develop?

The objective of the research is to try to understand how the heart develops at the beginning of everything, what chemical and physical changes occur to initiate electrical activity and what possible failures in that process can lead to a future cardiac pathology, either a malformation that can be seen already in pregnancy, or a problem that is observed in age adult

They also hope to understand, by analyzing the first beats, how heart muscle cells are activated when part of the muscle is replaced after myocardial infarction; They could even learn techniques and methods to repair damaged muscle after a heart attack.

Congenital heart disease is very common

In Spain it is estimated that 1 in 200 children are born with congenital heart disease, and this means that every year there are 2,000 newborn babies with heart disease.

In the words of the teacher Sir Nilesh Samani, medical director of the British Heart Foundation:

This study describes some of the early stages in the development of a beating heart, identifies some of the key molecules involved and shows that the initiation of the heartbeat itself has an impact on the development of the heart.

Researchers hope that with the understanding of how the heart is formed in the uterus they can prevent heart disease in the future while the baby is still developing, before he is born.

In Babies and more Ten children are born daily in Spain with some congenital heart disease

Video: 6 Weeks Pregnant: A Complete Guide on Fetal Development (March 2024).