Review Functional Morphology of the Cardiac Jelly in the Tubular Heart of Vertebrate Embryos Jörg Männer 1,*,† and Talat Mesud Yelbuz 2,† 1 Group Cardio‐Embryology, Institute of Anatomy and Embryology UMG, Georg‐August‐University Goettingen, D‐37075 Goettingen, Germany;
[email protected] 2 Department of Cardiac Sciences, King Abdulaziz Cardiac Center, Section of Pediatric Cardiology, King Abdulaziz Medical City, Ministry of National Guard Health Affairs, Riyadh 11426, Saudi Arabia;
[email protected] * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +49‐551‐39‐7032 † This work is dedicated to the memory of our academic mentors Gerd Steding (1936–2011) and Armin Wessel (1946–2011). Received: 29 January 2019; Accepted: 21 February 2019; Published: 27 February 2019 Abstract: The early embryonic heart is a multi‐layered tube consisting of (1) an outer myocardial tube; (2) an inner endocardial tube; and (3) an extracellular matrix layer interposed between the myocardium and endocardium, called “cardiac jelly” (CJ). During the past decades, research on CJ has mainly focused on its molecular and cellular biological aspects. This review focuses on the morphological and biomechanical aspects of CJ. Special attention is given to (1) the spatial distribution and fiber architecture of CJ; (2) the morphological dynamics of CJ during the cardiac cycle; and (3) the removal/remodeling of CJ during advanced heart looping stages, which leads to the formation of ventricular trabeculations and endocardial cushions. CJ acts as a hydraulic skeleton, displaying striking structural and functional similarities with the mesoglea of jellyfish. CJ not only represents a filler substance, facilitating end‐systolic occlusion of the embryonic heart lumen.