Figure 7.

Summary figure. Chicken embryos were treated with dexamethasone or saline vehicle at embryonic day 14 (E14) and different cohorts of embryos were studied at E19. We adopted an integrative approach to study effects on cardiovascular structure and function, combining experiments at the isolated organ, cellular and molecular levels. Chicken embryos exposed to dexamethasone show systolic and diastolic dysfunction, with an increase in cardiomyocyte volume but decreased cardiomyocyte nuclear density in the left ventricle. Underlying mechanisms included increased oxidative stress, a premature switch from tissue accretion to differentiation, and activated signaling of cellular senescence