Main article: Human body
The appearance of the heart
Main article: Pregnancy and childbirth
On about the 23rd day of pregnancy, the heart begins to work for the future baby.
At this gestation point, the embryo's heart is slightly smaller than the rice grain.
Heart formation was first shot in 3D format
In May 2025, scientists from University College London (UCL) and the Francis Crick Institute recorded the process of heart formation in mammals in three-dimensional format for the first time in history. The researchers were able to track the nucleation and development of cardiac cells inside a living mouse embryo, creating unique real-time 3D images of the process.
The breakthrough was made possible by the use of advanced light sheet microscopy technology. This method uses a thin beam of light to illuminate the sample, allowing for clear three-dimensional images without damaging the tissue under study. For 40 hours, the scientists took pictures of the embryo two minutes apart, using fluorescent markers that made heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) glow in different colors.
The study began with a critical stage of embryo development - gastrulation, when cells first begin to specialize and organize into the structures of future organs. The use of fluorescent tags allowed scientists not only to observe the movement and division of cells, but also to track the path of each of them to its predecessor, building a kind of "family tree" of the heart.
One of the most surprising discoveries of the study was the discovery that the first cells from which the heart forms exclusively appear very early - just hours after gastrulation began. Even more unexpected was the behavior of these cells: they move not chaotically, but follow strictly defined routes, as if they initially "know" which part of the heart they have to form - the atrium or ventricle.
Dr Kenzo Ivanovic, of the Great Ormond Street Institute for Child Health at UCL, stressed that such orderly cell behaviour did not fit traditional notions of early embryonic migration. Before this study, scientists believed that the heart is formed from a heterogeneous mass of cells, which only gradually acquire the necessary properties.[1]
How the Heart Works
Two halves and four departments
The heart of man is a four-chamber. It is divided by a continuous septum into two parts - right and left (venous blood flows in the right half of the heart, arterial blood flows in the left).
The left is stronger and larger of them, since it is responsible for the circulation of blood throughout the body.
In the right half of the organ, blood moves in a small circle, that is, from the lungs and back.
The right and left halves of the heart are divided by an incomplete septum into two reporting sections: upper section - atrium (right and left atria) and lower section - ventricles (right and left ventricles).
In the video below, we observe through MRI the work of the heart.
The two cameras that are located on the bottom left in the video are the atria, which collect blood from the whole body (right atrium) and from the lungs (left atrium). Having accumulated the blood that came, the atria contract, while the valves open, and the blood enters the other two chambers - the ventricles, they are visible to the right and above. Then comes the ventricular contraction phase. Closed valves do not let blood back into the atria, and it pours out into the arteries - the vessels that extend from the heart (they are not visible from this angle).
After that, there is a complete relaxation of the heart, it "rests." The valves at the base of the arteries prevent blood from going back. But the rest is not a specialist - you need to be hired again and carry out another reduction. Looking at this video, the doctor can tell if the patient has congenital defects or other heart diseases.
Heart valves
The following is an animation illustrating the internal structure of the heart, namely the bivalve (mitral valve) on the left side of the heart and the aortic (semilunar) valve. You can also see the sinuses of Valsalva - located behind the sinuses of the aorta, immediately behind the semilunar leaflets, from them the channel of the right and left coronary arteries begins (blood supply to the heart).
{{# https://www.tadviser.ru/images/9/90/Video - 2019-08-08T213611.634 (1).mp4|100%|auto||Visual visualization of the heart valve.}}
The openings between the atria and ventricles are closed by the leaf valves, which are attached by tendon threads to the walls of the heart.
It is heart valves that provide full heart capacity. In 24 hours, they have to open and close about 100,000 times.
Between the left atrium and the left ventricle there is a bivalve (mitral) valve, between the right atrium and the right ventricle there is a tricuspid valve.
Heart weight 200-400 grams
The mass of the heart ranges from 200-400 g in volume of the heart is comparable to the fist (750 cm3).
Intracardiac nervous system: how the heart is managed
Main article: Intracardiac nervous system
Although the heart is primarily controlled by the brain and autonomic nervous system, it also has its own mini-" brain, "called the intracardiac nervous system. It controls external autonomic signals and supports the full functioning of the heart in any situation. Read more here.
Own Electrical System
The human heart extracted from the chest is actually capable of beating for a short period of time, since it has its own electrical system and will continue to receive the necessary elements from the surrounding air.
Heartbeat
The heart of the average person beats at a rate of 72 beats per minute. Thus, over 65 years of life, the heart can be reduced 2.5 billion times.
The maximum heart rate in a healthy trained person with very intense physical activity can reach 220 beats per minute. With age, this number decreases.
With some arrhythmias, the pulse can reach 250 beats per minute, but this is not safe. Heart disease and 120 beats per minute can have negative effects.
For comparison, we note that the mouse heart beats at a frequency of 500 beats per minute, and in an elephant this value is only 25 beats per minute.
The human heart has no limit on the number of cuts in a lifetime. However, there are studies that say those with less heart rate live longer.
Like all muscles, the heart sometimes needs to relax. There are moments of respite in the work of the heart - then it is "silent" between contractions. During his life, the heart "rests" for about two decades.
After each stroke, the heart stops for a moment and fills with blood. The coronary arteries located on the outer surface of the heart serve to ensure that the heart muscle itself receives blood (and oxygen) while it waits for the next contraction.
Pumping from 6 to 30 liters of blood per minute
The heart is a powerful pump that pumps blood through arteries and veins. The volume of blood pumped by the heart in one minute is 6 L (with a blood flow rate of 2 km/h, that is, the path of blood from the hand to the tongue takes 15 seconds, from one hand to the other - 13 seconds and from the hip to the foot - 2 seconds), but can reach and 30 l/min if the heart overflows with blood, for example, when a person is in a state of arousal or performs great physical activity.
At rest, the heart pumps 360 liters of blood per hour, 8640 liters per day (that is, 15 tons), 3,153,600 liters per year. Over the course of a man's life, the heart passes 224 million liters of blood through itself, and the heart of a woman - 249 million, which is equivalent to the amount of water flowing out of the Seine in 10 minutes.
The human heart creates pressure that is enough for blood to splash seven and a half meters forward.
Therefore, it is clear why it is so easy to feel a heartbeat. For blood to pass through the whole body quickly, a lot of pressure is needed, which arises as a result of strong contractions of the ventricular walls pushing the blood.
Energy consumption
The heart produces energy of 1-5 watts; for a lifetime it's about 0.7 MW.
How to Keep Your Heart Healthy
According to experts, the heart has such high reliability and a large margin of safety, which is quite enough for a life for 150 years.
Cardiovascular diseases
Main article: Cardiovascular diseases
Diagnosing Heart Disease
Main article: Diagnosis of heart disease
Heart disease
2022: Artificial sweeteners increase cardiovascular risk by 9%
On September 11, 2022, a study was published, according to which there is a direct correlation between high consumption of artificial sweeteners and increased overall risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD), including cardiometabolic disorders. Read more here.
2020: An increase in mortality from cardiovascular diseases in Russia by 11.6%, to 97.3 thousand people
In 2020, 97.3 thousand people died from diseases of the circulatory systems (BSK) in Russia, which is 11.6% more than a year earlier. Such data in June 2021 was published by Rosstat. Read more here.
2019: In Russia, 841 thousand people died from heart and vascular diseases
Heart surgery
Main article: Heart surgery
Heart Implant Market
Artificial heart
Artificial heart valves
Main article: Artificial heart valves
2025
First time 5-year-old has artificial heart transplant
Chinese surgeons performed a unique operation. They transplanted an artificial heart to the smallest patient in the world. The operation was carried out at the Children's Hospital at Nanjing Medical University. The patient was a five-year-old girl weighing 13 kg. The child had end-stage heart failure. Doctors implanted a third-generation artificial heart with magnetic levitation. The device supports both ventricles. The operation lasted nine hours. A week after the operation, the child could already eat and walk normally. This was reported by Xinhua on September 23, 2025.
The girl was diagnosed at the age of three. She had a rare restrictive cardiomyopathy. In July 2025, the child's condition deteriorated sharply. Heart failure rates exceeded the dangerous threshold. Emergency measures were required to save life.
Donor hearts are very rare for five-year-olds. Doctors carefully discussed the situation with the family. They decided to implant an implantable ventricular support device. The case was particularly difficult. The girl's own heart was smaller than that of healthy children her age.
The patient had right and left heart failure at the same time. Support for both ventricles was required. It was necessary to achieve a balance of blood flow. This pathology greatly complicated the operation. An individual approach to the placement of the implant was required.
Artificial hearts developed for a long time. The first generation was pulsative. The second generation used the axial type. The third generation runs on magnetic levitation. These devices have become a common way to treat terminal heart failure. But they were originally created for adults.
The main problem in the treatment of children is a narrow chest. Standard adult implants do not fit into it. We need to develop children's versions of devices. You need to create miniature systems.
Doctors used modern technologies. They applied 3D modeling. According to the examination, the patients built an accurate model of the chest. On its basis, an individual implant was made. The device weighs only 70 grams per pump.[2]
For the first time, a person was transplanted with a temporary artificial heart, with which he lived for 100 days
The 40-year-old Australian became the first person in the world to live 100 days with a completely artificial heart, setting a record for the duration of the functioning of such a device in the human body. The NSW patient suffered from severe heart failure and voluntarily agreed to be Australia's first and the world's sixth person with an implanted artificial heart. Doctors installed the device on 22 November 2024 at St Vincent's Hospital in Sydney as a temporary solution before receiving a donor heart. This became known back in March 2025. Read more here.
2024: Company unveils artificial heart that pulsates like the present
In early November 2024, the American company SynCardia announced a technology for a fully implantable artificial heart called Emperor. Read more here.
2023
ITMO opened a mobile laboratory to create an artificial heart
ITMO created the first mobile cube laboratory in Russia to work with cells. It will grow cell cultures, create databases and conduct advanced research in the field of tissue engineering using artificial intelligence. In the future, ITMO scientists plan to grow myocardial cells to create a full-fledged artificial heart. This was announced on July 19, 2023 by representatives of ITMO. Read more here.
Artificial heart developer BiVacor raises $18 million investment
On March 29, 2023, BiVacor, an artificial heart developer, announced an investment of $18 million. The money will be used to fund ongoing research and development, as well as to organize comprehensive tests of products. In addition, personnel changes are planned - new specialists will be accepted for key leadership positions. Read more here.
2022: Moscow has developed a cable for an artificial heart
At the end of March 2022, it became known about the creation in Russia of a special cable intended for the operation of a mobile artificial heart. This is the development of engineers of NPP Spetskabel, the press service of the Moscow Department of Investment and Industrial Policy reports. More Artificial Heart Cable.
2021
Performing the first artificial heart implantation operation
In late July 2021, Carmat introduced the all-artificial Aeson heart, designed to treat people with end-stage biventricular heart failure. Read more here.
Announcement of Corvion LVAD - left ventricular device of auxiliary circulation with wireless charging
In mid-February 2021, Corvion introduced a cordless left ventricular bypass machine (LVAD) that is designed for patients with severe heart failure awaiting heart transplantation. These devices can also be used in the short term to support patients who have undergone cardiac surgery. Read more here.
2020
Permission to sell Carmat artificial heart
At the end of December 2020, the French company Carmat received permission to sell the world's first fully artificial heart in Europe. Read more here.
Printing the heart on a bioprinter. Video
2019: Fully soft heart 3D printed
One of the problems of the artificial heart is that metal and plastic mechanisms are very difficult to integrate with tissue, as they can damage it or blood due to an unnatural style of movement.
In May 2019, the heart was created using a 3D printer, thanks to which the researchers were able to make a complex internal structure, while using soft and flexible materials. The entire artificial organ is a single "monoblock," so scientists do not have to worry about how various internal mechanisms combine with each other (with the exception of input and output ports through which blood will come and go).
In tests, the artificial organ performed well, but scientists noted one important detail: so far such a heart cannot become a human implant. The fact is that the current materials withstand only a few thousand blows (this will be enough for about half an hour of work). However, the researchers plan to select those materials that will last much longer.
Digital Heart Doubles
- Digital heart twin (developed by Sechenov University)
- MIPT: Digital Heart Twin (Neural Network to Create a Detailed Map of Affected and Healthy Heart Tissue Cells)
Cardiac arrest and massage
Cardiodefibrillators
Main article: Cardiodefibrillators
Cardiodefibrillators are devices that restore a patient's normal heartbeat by sending a small electrical pulse or electric discharge to the heart.
How to give heart massages to children
In children, heart massage should be carried out with one hand, and in infants - with the tips of two fingers with a frequency of 100-120 presses per minute. The point of application of fingers in children under 1 year old is one finger wide below the nipple line.
2025: Mass production of CardioRobots for indirect heart massage has begun in Russia
The automated chest compression complex "CardioRobot" is included by Roszdravnadzor in the state register of medical devices. Rostec announced this on June 5, 2025. The "smart" device, designed for indirect massage of the heart, itself understands when the patient urgently needs help. The solution is ready for use in medical institutions, mass production has begun. Read more here.
2023: First Russian robotic complex for indirect heart massage developed
The first Russian robotic complex for indirect heart massage has been officially presented. We are talking about a device called CardioRobot, which, with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, has developed the Almaz NPP of the Roselectronics holding. Read more here.
2021: Russia creates "cardiorobots" for heart massage for ₽329 million
In December 2021, it became known that NPP Almaz (part of the Roselectronics holding of the Rostec state corporation) was engaged in the development of Cardiorobots, and then will produce them. We are talking about automated devices for indirect heart massage during resuscitation. Read more here.
2019: Mechanical Chest Compression Device
LUCAS 2 is a mechanical device that in 2019 helps ambulance personnel, paramedics, doctors and nurses perform continuous and effective chest compressions in patients with cardiac arrest, during their evacuation and transportation.
1987:4 hours is the longest cardiac arrest
For 4 hours, the heart stopped at the fisherman Jan Egil Revsdal, after December 1987. he fell overboard off the coast of Norway in the Bergen region and his body temperature dropped to 24 ° C. He recovered after being connected to an artificial circulation machine at Heukeland Hospital.
1998 Guinness World Records.
History
1852
380 million hp: The oldest heart in the world
In mid-September 2022, scientists from Curtin University discovered a perfectly preserved heart along with fossilized stomachs in Western Australia, as well as intestines and liver in ancient fish. The heart is 380 million years old and this is a record, and the find itself will help in the study of the evolution of jaw vertebrates. Scientists noted that the soft tissues of ancient species are rarely preserved.
According to a study published in the journal Science, the arrangement of organs in the body of arthrodirs, an extinct class of shell fish that flourished during the Devonian period from 419.2 million years ago to 358.9 million years ago, is similar to the anatomy of modern sharks, providing new evolutionary clues.
Curtin University scientists discover perfectly preserved heart
Exceptional in finding fish is that their soft tissue is preserved in three dimensions. In most cases, soft tissue is preserved in flattened fossils, where soft anatomy is nothing more than a spot on the stone.
The researchers used neutron beams and synchrotron X-rays to scan samples still in limestone nodules and constructed 3D images of soft tissues inside them based on varying densities of minerals deposited by bacteria and surrounding rock.
 | As a paleontologist who has been studying fossils for more than 20 years, I was really amazed to find a three-dimensional and perfectly preserved heart in 380 million ancestors! For the first time, we can see all the organs together in primitive jawfish, and we were especially surprised to learn that they are not so different from us, "said Kate Trinajstic, lead researcher and professor of paleontology at the University of Australia. |  |
The results demonstrate for the first time a 3D model of a complex S-shaped arthrodir heart consisting of two chambers, with a smaller camera located on top. These features are considered advanced for such early vertebrates, offering a unique window into how the head and neck area began to change to accommodate the jaws, a critical step in the evolution of the human body.
The liver was large and allowed the fish to maintain buoyancy like modern sharks. However, scientists point to one critical difference. Some modern bony fish, such as lungfish and birch forests, have lungs that have evolved from swimming bubbles, but researchers have found no evidence of lungs in extinct shell fish. This suggests that modern lungs developed independently in bony fish at a later time.[3]
Notes
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