Dorsoventral transposition of the heart chambers in sturgeon Acipenser naccarii alevins.

Abstract

This is the first description of a dorsoventral transposition of the heart chambers in sturgeons Acipenser naccarii. The affected individuals were 2 farmed alevins aged 9 and 10 d posthatching, respectively. One was examined by light microscopy and the other by scanning electron microscopy. In both cases, the atrium and sinus venosus occupied a left ventrolateral position, the ventricle, conus arteriosus and bulbus arteriosus were located dorsally, and the transverse septum was incomplete. The anomalous heart examined by light microscopy did not differ histologically from normal hearts of similar developmental stages. The abnormal dorsoventral arrangement of the heart chambers was presumably due to a distortion of the morphogenetic movements that bring the ventricle to the ventral and the atrium to the dorsal position. The present findings, together with genetic data reported in the literature, suggest that the defective cardiac phenotype detected in the present specimens might result from a mutation affecting the sturgeon ortholog of the zebrafish overlooped (olp) gene.