Daijiworld Media Network - Sydney

Sydney, Jan 20: In a world-first discovery, scientists in Australia have found that the human heart can regenerate muscle cells after a heart attack, a breakthrough that could pave the way for future regenerative treatments for heart failure.

The study, published in Circulation Research, revealed that while certain parts of the heart remain scarred following a heart attack, new muscle cells are also produced. This phenomenon had earlier been observed only in mice and has now been demonstrated in humans for the first time, according to a report by Xinhua news agency.

“Until now, we believed that because heart cells die after a heart attack, those areas of the heart were irreparably damaged, leaving the heart less able to pump blood to the body’s organs,” said Robert Hume, research fellow at the University of Sydney and first author of the study.

Hume, who is also the lead of translational research at Australia’s Baird Institute for Applied Heart and Lung Research, said the long-term aim is to develop therapies that can enhance the heart’s natural ability to generate new cells and repair itself after an attack.

While increased mitosis — the process by which cells divide and reproduce — has been seen in the heart muscle of mice after heart attacks, this is the first time the process has been conclusively shown in human hearts.

The breakthrough was achieved using living heart tissue samples collected from patients undergoing bypass surgery at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Australia.

“Ultimately, the goal is to use this discovery to create new heart cells that can reverse heart failure,” said Professor Sean Lal, senior author of the study and a heart failure cardiologist at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital.

Researchers noted that cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death globally, with heart attacks capable of destroying up to a third of the cells in the human heart. They added that the findings provide a strong foundation for developing new regenerative medicine approaches to treat heart disease.