A co-culture assay of embryonic zebrafish hearts to assess migration of epicardial cells in vitro

Background The vertebrate heart consists of three cell layers: the innermost endothelium, the contractile myocardium and the outermost epicardium. The epicardium is vital for heart development and function, and forms from epicardial progenitor cells (EPCs), which migrate to the myocardium during early development. Disruptions in EPC migration and epicardium formation result in a number of cardiac malformations, many of which resemble congenital heart diseases in humans. Hence, it is important to understand the mechanisms that influence EPC migration and spreading in the developing heart. In vitro approaches heretofore have been limited to monolayer epicardial cell cultures, which may not fully capture the complex interactions that can occur between epicardial and myocardial cells in vivo.