During a heart attack, or myocardial infarction, heart muscle cells – known as cardiomyocytes – suffer damage and die due to lack of oxygen from reduced blood flow.

At present, there is no treatment to effectively reverse damage caused by heart attack, but Prof. Ruiz-Lozano and colleagues at Stanford University, CA, have set out to develop a treatment that addresses the inability of cardiomyocytes to regenerate by developing a ‘protein patch’

The team noted that in zebra fish, Fstl1, a protein secreted by the epicardium, contributed to the growth of cardiomyocytes, which are cardiac muscle cells (the inner layer of the pericardium). With the help the past studies in zebra fish, whose heart cells had the ability to regenerate epicardium team developed the patch.

Prof. Ruiz-Lozano and colleagues created the patch made of a cellular collagen that simulates fetal epicardial tissue and is embedded with FSTL1. The patch and the FSTL1 protein slowly absorbed when applied to a damaged heart and help regenerate tissues.

 

for more details visit :  https://www.stanford.edu/