💧 In response to mechanical stimulation and calmodulin activation, Aqp8a.1 is incorporated into the plasma membrane, enabling cell volume loss that drives heart looping and valve formation.
⚖️ Piezo1 fine-tunes this process through a dual mechanism: in the short term, promoting membrane trafficking of Aqp8a.1 for rapid cell volume adjustment, and in the long term, suppressing aqp8a.1 transcription via Notch1b signaling to prevent excessive shrinkage.
Endocardial cells in the valve-forming region undergo a significant volume reduction during early heart development.