In a statement, the scientists explained that adults are unable to generate new heart muscle in cases of disease, usually forming a scar as a repair, which can then lead to heart failure.
In this study, published in the Stem Cells Reports journal, the team of researchers, coordinated by Diana Nascimento and Perpétua Pinto-do-Ó, showed that the heart after birth, as well as forming this scar, also has the capacity to regenerate and generate new cardiac muscle.
This means that “it is important to study the neonate heart to find innovative therapies for a wide range of heart disease,” they argue.
“We have shown that fibroblasts are regulating both regeneration and repair in the neonatal heart and, as such, the study of the response of these cells, is essential so that in the future we can trigger a more efficient response by the adult heart in a disease situation,” explained research coordinator, Diana Nascimento
The article’s lead author, Vasco Sampaio-Pinto noted that “the model described can be used to develop new therapies to promote the regeneration of the heart in cases of, for example, myocardial infarction, and also to find new drugs that prevent scar formation.”
According to the researcher, “this scar prevents the normal functioning of the heart, often leading to heart failure.”