Helping heart muscle regrow after a heart attack
Mechanisms that Govern Cardiomyocyte Proliferation and Remuscularization following Ventricular Injury
Researchers are testing ways to make heart muscle cells divide and rebuild damaged heart tissue after a heart attack in adults.
Quick facts
| Grant type | P01 program project |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Alabama at Birmingham NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Birmingham, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11141867 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
This research looks at why newborn mammal hearts can naturally regrow after injury and tries to copy those signals to help adult hearts heal. The team uses neonatal pig models, laboratory cell studies, and molecular analyses to find the switches that make cardiomyocytes re-enter the cell cycle. They plan to develop approaches that could stimulate remuscularization of injured heart tissue and reduce scarring. Right now the work is preclinical and focuses on lab and animal experiments to guide future therapies for people.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Adults who have had a recent acute myocardial infarction or are recovering from one are the eventual candidates who could benefit from therapies developed from this research.
Not a fit: People with very long-standing, end-stage heart damage or with severe other illnesses may not see direct benefit from these early preclinical studies.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could lead to treatments that replace scarred heart tissue with functioning muscle and reduce heart failure after myocardial infarction.
How similar studies have performed: Prior animal work shows newborn mice and pigs can regenerate heart muscle, but translating that success to adult hearts remains largely unproven.
Where this research is happening
Birmingham, United States
- University of Alabama at Birmingham — Birmingham, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Zhang, Jianyi — University of Alabama at Birmingham
- Study coordinator: Zhang, Jianyi
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.