Scientists discover the human heart can regrow muscle after a heart attack
Researchers have discovered that the human heart possesses a limited ability to regenerate muscle cells following a heart attack. While this natural response is currently insufficient to repair major damage, it challenges the long-held belief that heart tissue is permanently irreparable.
Why it matters
This discovery opens new avenues for cardiovascular research, aiming to develop therapies that amplify the heart's natural regenerative capacity to treat heart disease.
Researchers from the University of Sydney, the Baird Institute and Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney have found that the human heart can produce new muscle cells after a heart attack. The discovery challenges the long-held assumption that heart muscle lost during an attack cannot regenerate and could eventually help scientists develop new treatments for cardiovascular disease.
The findings were published in Circulation Research . First author Dr. Robert Hume, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health and Charles Perkins Centre, and Lead of Translational Research at the Baird Institute for Applied Heart and Lung Research, explained why the result could be important.
Human Hearts Can Produce New Muscle Cells
"Until now we've thought that, because heart cells die after a heart attack, those areas of the heart were irreparably damaged, leaving the heart less able to pump blood to the body's organs.
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