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C.
Hernández-­-Sánchez,
P.
Vázquez,
Flora
de
Pablo

5.
CONCLUSIONS
AND
FUTURE
DIRECTIONS

The
morfological
and
functional
diversity
of
animal
organisms
depends
on

multiple
mechanisms
of
gene
regulation,
especific
in
time
and
space,
which
permit

the
functional
utilization
of
related
transcripts
(and
their
protein
products)

in

distinct
contexts
along
the
life
cycle.

We
have
characterized
the
role
of
TH
in

cardiac
development,
focusing
in
the
primitive
heart
tube
formation.
In
the
future

we
will
try
to
define
the
mechanism
of
dopamine
action
and
the
receptors
involved

in
cardiomyocyte
differentiation.

It
is
intriguing
as
well
the
possible
role
of
TH
in
the
proepicardium,
a

transient
structure
in
which
we
have
found
expression
in
later
stages
of
cardiac

organogenesis.
In
addition,
TH
is
expressed
in
the
mouse
pancreatic
primordium

since
its
formation.
We
are
now
characterizing
the
expression
pattern
of
TH
during

pancreas
development,
and
the
likely
participation
of
catecholamines
in

differentiation
programs
leading
to
pancreatic
endocrine
cells.
The
field
of
the

action
of
catecholamines
in
non-­-neural
tissues
development
has
turned
out
to
be

much
broader
than
anticipated.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We
thank
present
and
past
members
of
the
laboratory,
especially
Enrique
J.
de
la

Rosa
and
Teresa
Suárez,
for
their
contribution
to
scientific
discussions,
the

background
data
and
specific
figures
modified
for
this
article.
This
research
was

funded
by
grants
BFU
2007-­-61055
and
BFU
2010-­-15868
(MINECO)
to
F.
de
Pablo.

PV
is
supported
by
a
JAE-­-DOC
contract
from
the
CSIC.

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