Researchers at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine report that they have used single cell RNA sequencing technology along with other techniques to sort out the details of how fibroblasts, scar tissue cells, can turn into cardiomyocytes, heart muscle cells, creating new healthy heart muscle.
“Some of what we found is clinically important,” Li Qian, PhD, assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the UNC School of Medicine, said, “For example, we know that after a heart attack, cardiac fibroblasts around the injured area are immediately activated and become highly proliferative but this proliferative capacity decreases over time. How to take advantage of the varied cell cycle status of fibroblasts over the progression of a heart attack and its aftermath would certainly broaden the application of cellular reprogramming for patients and optimize outcomes.”
Source & further reading:http://news.unchealthcare.org/news/2017/october/how-to-turn-damaged-heart-tissue-back-into-healthy-heart-muscle-new-details-emerge
Image:
These are induced cardiomyocytes (iCMs) that Li Qian's lab produced in experiments turning scar tissue into healthy heart muscle.
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