Researchers at the Hubrecht Institute have made a breakthrough in heart regeneration research by successfully repairing damaged mouse hearts using a protein from zebrafish. The protein, Hmga1, plays a key role in zebrafish heart regeneration and was shown to restore heart function in mice without any adverse effects.
Researchers from the Bakkers group at the Hubrecht Institute have successfully repaired damaged mouse hearts using a protein from zebrafish. They discovered that the protein Hmga1 plays a key role in heart regeneration in zebrafish. In mice, this protein was able to restore the heart by activating dormant repair genes without causing side effects, such as heart enlargement.
This study, supported by the Dutch Heart Foundation and Hartekind Foundation, marks an important step toward regenerative therapies to prevent heart failure. The findings were published in Nature Cardiovascular Research on January 2, 2025. After a heart attack, the human heart loses millions of muscle cells that cannot regrow. This often leads to heart failure, where the heart struggles to pump blood effectively. Unlike humans, zebrafish grow new heart muscle cells: they have a regenerative capacity. When a zebrafish heart is damaged, it can fully restore its function within 60 days. We don't understand why some species can regenerate their hearts after injury while others cannot. By studying zebrafish and comparing them to other species, we can uncover the mechanisms of heart regeneration. This could eventually lead to therapies to prevent heart failure in humans.' Jeroen Bakkers, the study's leader A protein that repairs damage The research team identified a protein that enables heart repair in zebrafish. 'We compared the zebrafish heart to the mouse heart, which, like the human heart, cannot regenerate', says Dennis de Bakker, the study's first author. 'We looked at the activity of genes in damaged and healthy parts of the heart', he explains. 'Our findings revealed that the gene for the Hmga1 protein is active during heart regeneration in zebrafish but not in mice. This showed us that Hmga1 plays a key role in heart repair.' Typically, the Hmga1 protein is important during embryonic development when cells need to grow a lo
HEART REGENERATION ZEBRAFISH MOUSE PROTEIN MEDICAL RESEARCH
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