This knowledge now provides a scaffold for understanding how environmental factors cause CHD. In the past 20 years, several populations of cardiac progenitor cells have been identified, and the molecular events driving heart formation in the mammalian embryo have been described in great detail 4.

Although the teratogenicity of a wide variety of such factors has been known since the 1940s, very little is known about how these factors perturb embryonic development at the molecular level. Many of the remaining cases of CHD are caused by in utero exposure to environmental factors 3. However, despite the association of over 100 genes with CHD, mutations in these genes only explain ~30% of cases 2. Most research in the last 30 years has focused on genetic causes of CHD. CHD results from defects occurring early in the development of the embryo, either because of gene mutation, chromosomal abnormality or the impact of environmental factors. It is a major cause of infant mortality and morbidity, and requires ongoing medical treatment throughout life. Nature Communications volume 12, Article number: 3447 ( 2021)Ĭongenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common class of birth defects, with a global prevalence of 0.9% of live births 1. Maternal iron deficiency perturbs embryonic cardiovascular development in mice

Iron arrowhead 7 days to die