Stem cells not the only way to fix a broken heart | Eureka! Science News

Stem cells not the only way to fix a broken heart | Eureka! Science News: "Stem cells not the only way to fix a broken heart
Published: Thursday, July 23, 2009 - 11:42 in Health & Medicine

Researchers appear to have a new way to fix a broken heart. They have devised a method to coax heart muscle cells into reentering the cell cycle, allowing the differentiated adult cells to divide and regenerate healthy heart tissue after a heart attack, according to studies in mice and rats reported in the July 24th issue of the journal Cell, a Cell Press publication. The key ingredient is a growth factor known as neuregulin1 (NRG1 for short), and the researchers suggest that the factor might one day be used to treat failing human hearts. 'To my knowledge, this is the first regenerative therapy that may be applicable in a systemic way,' said Bernhard Kühn of Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School."