If our heart is the first organ to develop in utero (the future baby needs it from its 3e gestation week to develop tissues), it is also the first organ which, shortly after birth, loses all capacity to regenerate. Thus, little by little, our organism loses all capacity to replace damaged heart cells.
It is on the basis of this observation that researchers from the University of Texas in collaboration with researchers from Ain Shams University (Egypt) and the University of Queensland (Australia) decided to study muscle more closely. heart, looking to see if there might be a way to get the heart to repair damaged cells.
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By carrying out a series of experiments on mice, the researchers found that the Meis1 gene, known to play an important role in the heart development of the fetus, was also able to direct the heart’s ability to renew its tissues. It would then suffice to find a way to “turn on” this Meis1 gene if necessary, to de facto cause the production of new heart cells.
In the event of heart failure, for example, it would suffice to encourage it to repair the damage suffered by the myocardium, thus giving it a new lease of life …
For now, this work, published in the journal Nature, is only at the research stage. Soon, maybe, it will be possible to truly mend broken hearts.
