U.S. researches say adult human cardiac cells lose their ability to proliferate, perhaps explaining why the human heart has little regenerative capacity. Stem cell researchers at UCLA say the discovery may lead to methods of reprogramming a patient’s cardiac myocytes, or muscle cells, within the heart itself to create new muscle to repair damage. Recent research suggests mammals have the ability to regenerate the heart for a very brief period, about the first week of life, but the ability is quickly lost, a UCLA release said Monday.
