Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

Chamber of Cells
29 March 2017

Chamber of Cells

Our hearts – like those of all mammals – have four chambers. The image on the left shows a normal mouse heart, with the left and right atria at the top and the left and right ventricles at the bottom. The right side of the heart pumps blood to the lungs to get oxygen, and the left side of the heart pumps oxygenated blood from the lungs to the body. Congenital heart disease – which affects 9 in every 1,000 newborn babies in the UK – can arise when the chambers of the heart haven’t formed properly. When looking into early heart development, researchers identified stem cells using fluorescent lineage tracing that specifically gave rise to the ventricles of the heart (right). This new insight has helped further our understanding of the heart’s development.

Written by Katie Panteli

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.