Cardiac regeneration as an environmental adaptation

Publication date: Available online 12 December 2019Source: Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Molecular Cell ResearchAuthor(s): Akane Sakaguchi, Chihiro Nishiyama, Wataru KimuraAbstractHeart failure is a devastating disease that affects more than 26 million individuals worldwide and has a 5-year survival rate of less than 50%, with its development in part reflecting the inability of the adult mammalian heart to regenerate damaged myocardium. In contrast, certain vertebrate species including fish and amphibians, as well as neonatal mammals, are capable of complete cardiac regeneration after various types of myocardial injury such as resection of the ventricular apex or myocardial infarction, with this regeneration being mediated by the proliferation of cardiomyocytes, dissolution of temporary fibrosis, and revascularization of damaged tissue. In an effort to identify regulators of cardiac regeneration and to develop novel therapeutic strategies for induction of myocardial regeneration in the adult human heart, recent studies have adopted an approach based on comparative biology. These studies have pointed to cellular or tissue responses to environmental cues—including activation of the immune system, the reaction to mechanical stress, and the adoption of oxidative metabolism—as key determinants of whether the heart undergoes regeneration or nonregenerative scar formation after injury. We here summarize recent insight into the molecular mechanisms as well as environmenta...
Source: Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) Molecular Cell Research - Category: Molecular Biology Source Type: research