Work

Cardiac Regenerative Capacity and Mechanisms

Year: 2012

Type: review

Abstract: The heart holds the monumental yet monotonous task of maintaining circulation. Although cardiac function is critical to other organs and to life itself, mammals are not equipped with significant natural capacity to replace heart muscle that has been lost by injury. This deficiency plays a role in leaving millions worldwide vulnerable to heart failure each year. By contrast, certain other vertebrate species such as zebrafish are strikingly good at heart regeneration. A cellular and molecular understanding of endogenous regenerative mechanisms and advances in methodology to transplant cells together project a future in which cardiac muscle regeneration can be therapeutically stimulated in injured human hearts. This review focuses on what has been discovered recently about cardiac regenerative capacity and how natural mechanisms of heart regeneration in model systems are stimulated and maintained.

Source: Annual Review of Cell and Developmental Biology

DOI: 10.1146/annurev-cellbio-101011-155739

Authors: Kazu Kikuchi, Kenneth D. Poss

Institutions: Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Duke University, Duke Medical Center

Language: English

Topic: Congenital heart defects research

Subfield: Molecular Biology

Field: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology

Domain: Life Sciences

SDG: Good health and well-being

Open Access status: green

Funders: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute