A new study by investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of the Mass General Brigham (MGB) healthcare system, reveals an important step to help the human heart regenerate after myocardial infarction (MI). For the first time, the researchers compared the formation of scar tissue in the injured hearts of zebrafish and mice, discovering how to potentially reverse the permanent scarring that is so damaging to mammal hearts. The results of the study are published in Nature Communications.
We are the first to directly compare and show very fundamental differences in the formation of scar tissue between zebrafish and mammals. The results of our study point to a possible new target to reverse scarring after myocardial infarction, which has never been shown before." Eman A.
Akam-Baxter, PhD, lead author, investigator at the MGH Cardiovascular Research Center and instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School A myocardial infarction causes the death of massive numbers of heart cells. To repair the injury, the body replaces the damaged and dead cells with scar tissue. Initially, the scar tissue is beneficial in keeping the heart intact.
But eventually the scar tissue becomes a permanent part of the cardiac muscle, causing the heart to pump blood less effectively. An overworked heart causes the scar tissue to expand, leading to permanent heart damage. The formation of permanent scar tissue after a heart injury is characteristic of all mammals.
But zebrafi.