{"id":128159,"date":"2016-10-11T18:21:10","date_gmt":"2016-10-11T22:21:10","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=128159"},"modified":"2016-10-15T16:29:12","modified_gmt":"2016-10-15T20:29:12","slug":"babys-heart-begins-to-beat-as-early-as-16-days-after-conception-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/babys-heart-begins-to-beat-as-early-as-16-days-after-conception-study-finds\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby’s heart begins to beat as early as 16 days after conception, study finds"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A new study shows that a baby’s first heartbeat may occur as early as 16 days after conception, rather than the three weeks previously thought. The study is being considered a potentially vital breakthrough for treating congenital heart disease since researchers will be able to understand the initiation of the heart’s function in the developing baby.<\/p>\n

According to the University of Oxford,<\/a> where the study was conducted:<\/p>\n

In the study, published in the journal eLife<\/em>, researchers looked at the developing mouse heart and found that the muscle started to contract as soon as it formed the cardiac crescent \u2013 an early stage in heart development. In mice, this crescent forms 7.5 days after conception, which is equivalent to day 16 in the human embryo. Previously, it was thought that the heart started to contract a stage later, when the heart appears as a linear tube.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Researchers hail this finding as crucial; twelve babies a day in the UK are born with congenital heart disease, and such knowledge of heart development could help medical professionals both treat these babies, as well as prevent heart attacks later in life.<\/p>\n

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