Curan damaged in mice by reactivating their own hearts … – 20minutos.es

A group of cells in an image file. (Gtres)

As in the genomes of all cells in the body is the information needed to generate an organ science looks for ways to “fix” a body from the inside . A group of American researchers have succeeded in mice damaged hearts working again. The finding could help pave the way to new therapies for heart disease.

is a new concept for the treatment in the fight against heart disease Scientists at the Salk Institute (USA) have cured the damaged hearts of mice through the reactivation of the inactive molecular machinery of the cells of these animals. The new results suggest that although adult mammals generally do not regenerate damaged tissue, may retain a latent capacity development as a relic like distant ancestors on the evolutionary tree.

As explained in the study published in Cell Stem Cell, when scientists blocked four molecules that are thought to suppress these programs organ regeneration, they saw a dramatic improvement in the regeneration and healing of the heart mice. The findings provide a proof of concept for a new type of clinical treatment in the fight against heart disease .

“The regeneration of organs is a fascinating phenomenon that apparently recapitulates processes observed during development. However, despite our current understanding of how it happens embryogenesis and development, the mechanisms that prevent regeneration in adult mammals have remained elusive , “said lead author study, the Spanish Juan Carlos Izpisúa Belmonte, a professor in the Gene Expression Laboratory at the Salk.

In the genomes of all cells in the body is the information required to generate a body . Belmonte Izpisúa group has focused for many years to identify the key molecules involved in embryonic development, as well as the responses of potentially underlying healing in regenerating organisms such as zebrafish.

Organ regeneration is fascinating but their mechanisms have remained elusive In 2003, the Belmonte lab located Izpisúa first signals prior to heart regeneration in zebrafish. And in a 2010 article in Nature, the researchers describe how they produced regeneration in zebrafish: instead of stem cells invade the injured heart tissue, the own heart cells were again a precursor state (a process called “dedifferentiation”), which, in turn, allowed them to be played on the fabric.

Now, have made the injection of inhibitors in the hearts of mice that had undergone heart attack triggered the regeneration of cardiac cells, improving many physical and functional aspects the heart, as the thickness of its walls and its ability to pump blood. The scar caused by heart attack is greatly reduced with treatment compared with controls, the researchers said.

In addition, improvements were still evident three to six months after treatment, which is much time in the life of a mouse. “ The good news is that success is not limited to the short term , which is very common in cardiac regenerative biology,” notes Ignacio Sancho-Martinez, a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of Izpisúa Belmonte.

The next step for the team is working Izpisúa Belmonte in larger animals and see if the “regenerative reprogramming” can work in larger hearts and for prolonged periods after treatment.