• Question: Why does the heart never regenerate?

    Asked by phguan to Cristina, Praveen on 10 Nov 2015. This question was also asked by Lucy, 329hrtd24, Ilya Schneider.
    • Photo: Cristina Villa del Campo

      Cristina Villa del Campo answered on 10 Nov 2015:

      Hi phguan,
      Thanks for your question! It is a good one actually. We are not too sure why the muscle cells don’t divide anymore in the adult heart. I think very specialised cells like heart muscle cells and neurons focus on performing their function and all that is needed to divide is shut off. That’s why after a heart attack the muscle doesn’t grow back again. What is cool is that fish hearts can do this! If you cut a piece out of a fish heart it grows it back! We study these fish to see what genes they have that we haven’t to understand why our muscle cells don’t divide anymore.

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