Researchers have discovered a particular type of stem cell that could help repair the damage caused by a heart attack when injected in mice - the most potential yet for heart regenerative medicine.
In the last decade, stem cells isolated from the heart have demonstrated potential for encouraging the heart to repair itself, an approach called regenerative medicine.
However, there has been uncertainty among researchers about the best type and combination of stem cells.
Published in Nature Communications, the study was led by British Heart Foundation Professor Michael Schneider and Dr Michela Noseda at the National Heart & Lung Institute at Imperial College London.
Researchers say mice treated with these stem cells were able to recover and repair a significant proportion of their damaged heart muscle after 12 weeks, preventing heart failure.
“Now that we know which stem cells to use, we want to find their equivalent in human hearts for more efficient heart repair and regeneration after heart attack,” says British Heart Foundation Professor Michael Schneider.
"Future treatments could be injections of stem cells, as in our current experiments, or use of the healing proteins that these cells make".
During a heart attack, the heart is starved of oxygen and suffers damage that can never be repaired.
In its severest form, heart failure is a terminal illness and the only cure is a heart transplant.
