Cardiac Regeneration: New Hope for an Old Dream.

Cardiac Regeneration: New Hope for an Old Dream. Annu Rev Physiol. 2020 Oct 16;: Authors: Weinberger F, Eschenhagen T Abstract The regenerative capacity of the heart has long fascinated scientists. In contrast to other organs such as liver, skin, and skeletal muscle, the heart possesses only a minimal regenerative capacity. It lacks a progenitor cell population, and cardiomyocytes exit the cell cycle shortly after birth and do not re-enter after injury. Thus, any loss of cardiomyocytes is essentially irreversible and can lead to or exaggerate heart failure, which represents a major public health problem. New therapeutic options are urgently needed, but regenerative therapies have remained an unfulfilled promise in cardiovascular medicine until today. Yet, through a clearer comprehension of signaling pathways that regulate the cardiomyocyte cell cycle and advances in stem cell technology, strategies have evolved that demonstrate the potential to generate new myocytes and thereby fulfill an essential central criterion for heart repair. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Physiology, Volume 83 is February 10, 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates. PMID: 33064963 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Annual Review of Physiology - Category: Physiology Authors: Tags: Annu Rev Physiol Source Type: research