Newborn mice are able to regenerate the heart

2011/04/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Zoologia
• Anatomia/Fisiologia

During the first week of life, mice are able to restore the damaged heart. A group of cardiologists from the University of Texas comes to this conclusion. The one-day mice were extracted 15% of the left ventricle and three weeks later saw that they had the whole heart. However, by following the same procedure in the 7-day mouse, such recovery was not detected. Scientists believe that this first week there are some changes in the gene expression of mice and that certain hormones or certain signals of the environment disappear. Now scientists are looking for genes, gene silencers and drugs that could lengthen or revive the regeneration period.