Endocardial cushions

{{Infobox embryology

| Name = Endocardial cushions

| Latin = tubera endocardiaca atrioventricularia

| Image = Gray465.png

| Caption = Interior of dorsal half of heart from a human embryo of about thirty days.

| Image2 =

| Caption2 =

| System =

| CarnegieStage = 14

| Days = 27

| Precursor = Lateral plate mesoderm{{cite journal |vauthors=Maschhoff KL, Baldwin HS |title=Molecular determinants of neural crest migration |journal=Am. J. Med. Genet. |volume=97 |issue=4 |pages=280–8 |year=2000 |pmid=11376439|doi=10.1002/1096-8628(200024)97:4<280::AID-AJMG1278>3.0.CO;2-N}}

| GivesRiseTo = Septum intermedium

}}

Endocardial cushions, or atrioventricular cushions, refer to a subset of cells in the development of the heart that play a vital role in the proper formation of the heart septa.

They develop on the atrioventricular canal{{DorlandsDict|nine/000952350|endocardial cushions}} and conotruncal region of the bulbus cordis.{{Cite book|last=Sadler, T. W. (Thomas W.)|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/51258190|title=Langman's medical embryology.|date=2004|publisher=Lippincott Williams & Wilkins|others=Langman, Jan.|isbn=0-7817-4310-9|edition=9th|location=Philadelphia, Pa.|oclc=51258190}}

During heart development, the heart starts out as a tube. As heart development continues, this tube undergoes remodeling to eventually form the four-chambered heart. The endocardial cushions are a subset of cells found in the developing heart tube that will give rise to the heart's primitive valves and septa, critical to the proper formation of a four-chambered heart.{{Citation|last=Carlson|first=Bruce M.|title=Development of the Heart|date=2014-01-01|url=http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B978012801238305460X|work=Reference Module in Biomedical Sciences|publisher=Elsevier|language=en|doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-801238-3.05460-x|isbn=978-0-12-801238-3|access-date=2020-12-05|url-access=subscription}}