Within the realm of zoological study, the question of how an organism reaches a specific size has been largely unexplored. Recently, studies performed to understand the regulation of organ size have revealed that both cellular signals and external cues contribute toward the determination of total cell mass within each organ. The establishment of final organ size requires the precise coordination of cell growth, proliferation, and survival throughout development and postnatal life. In the mammalian heart, the regulation of size is biphasic. During development, cardiomyocyte proliferation predominantly determines cardiac growth, whereas in the adult heart, total cell mass is governed by signals that regulate cardiac hypertrophy. Here, we review the current state of knowledge regarding the extrinsic factors and intrinsic mechanisms that control heart size during development. We also discuss the metabolic switch that occurs in the heart after birth and precedes homeostatic control of postnatal heart size.

中文翻译：

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心脏生长和大小的决定因素。

在动物学研究领域内，有机体如何达到特定大小的问题在很大程度上尚未探索。最近，为了解器官大小的调节而进行的研究表明，细胞信号和外部信号都有助于确定每个器官内的总细胞质量。最终器官大小的确定需要在整个发育和出生后精确协调细胞生长、增殖和存活。在哺乳动物心脏中，大小的调节是双相的。在发育过程中，心肌细胞增殖主要决定心脏生长，而在成人心脏中，总细胞量受调节心脏肥大的信号控制。这里，我们回顾了关于在发育过程中控制心脏大小的外在因素和内在机制的知识现状。我们还讨论了出生后心脏中发生的代谢转换，并且在出生后心脏大小的稳态控制之前。