Mouse heart 're-grows when cut'

It's been discovered that heart tissue can regrow in fish and amphibians, but this recent study with mice is the first time this phenomena has been seen in mammals. In this study, scientists removed the left ventricular apex of the heart from mice that were just days old. The heart them began to regrow and after just three weeks the heart had restored itself. The experiment failed with mice that were one week old. This is most likely because there is thought to be only a short 3-day period after birth when the heart tissue is still replicating and repairing.
The team has a goal to develop a way to "reawaken" the self-repair cells present at birth in older mice. they have identified a micro-RNA that regulates the process and also are researching drugs to accomplish this.
These scientists speculate that the same short period of the heart repairing exists in humans also. Understanding how this mechanism happens can help researches one day be able to heal adult human hearts.



http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12573922