London, Apr 19 : Researchers including one of Indian origin have declared a research breakthrough in mice that shows promise to restore hearts damaged by heart attacks-by converting scar-forming cardiac cells into beating heart muscle.

Gladstone Institutes scientists previously transformed such cells into cardiac muscle-like cells in petri dishes.

But Gladstone postdoctoral scholar Li Qian, PhD, along with researchers in the laboratory of Deepak Srivastava, MD, has now accomplished this transformation in living animals-and with even greater success.

The results may have broad human-health implications.

"The damage from a heart attack is typically permanent because heart-muscle cells-deprived of oxygen during the attack-die and scar tissue forms," said Dr. Srivastava, who directs cardiovascular and stem cell research at Gladstone, an independent and nonprofit biomedical-research institution.

"But our experiments in mice are a proof of concept that we can reprogram non-beating cells directly into fully functional, beating heart cells-offering an innovative and less invasive way to restore heart function after a heart attack."

In laboratory experiments with mice that had experienced a heart attack, Drs. Qian and Srivastava delivered three genes that normally guide embryonic heart development-together known as GMT-directly into the damaged region.

Within a month, non-beating cells that normally form scar tissue transformed into beating heart-muscle cells. Within three months, the hearts were beating even stronger and pumping more blood.

"These findings could have a significant impact on heart-failure patients-whose damaged hearts make it difficult for them to engage in normal activities like walking up a flight of stairs," said Dr. Qian, who is also a California Institute for Regenerative Medicine postdoctoral scholar and a Roddenberry Fellow.

"This research may result in a much-needed alternative to heart transplants-for which donors are extremely limited. And because we are reprogramming cells directly in the heart, we eliminate the need to surgically implant cells that were created in a petri dish."

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Transforming scar tissue into beating heart muscle may help repair cardiac damage

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