Think of them as the Energizer Bunnies of the heart, tiny natural batteries that keep this vital organ beating 100,000 times a day as it pumps 2,000 gallons of blood throughout the human body.
That’s the subject of a new study by a team that includes two USF Health doctors who reported their findings in Circulation, the flagship journal of the American Heart Association.
“An injury like a heart attack creates a massive loss of cardiomyocytes, and you can’t renew them,” said Da-Zhi Wang, Ph.D., director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine in the USF Health Heart Institute and Morsani College of Medicine. “So, the question is how to make the heart repair itself.”
The study of heart repair has been a consistent theme of Dr. Wang’s research lab, which recently relocated to USF from Harvard Medical School where he was a professor working at Boston Children’s Hospital. Dr. Wang, now a professor of Internal Medicine and Molecular Pharmacology and Physiology in the Morsani College of Medicine, is a senior author of the study, “Reduced Mitochondrial Protein Translation Promotes Cardiomyocyte Proliferation and Heart Regeneration.” The paper addresses how the activities of mitochondria, which reside inside cardiomyocyte cells, are vital in repairing a damaged heart and even in preventing future heart attacks or coronary disease.
“The key element of this study is the link to cardiac regeneration,” said John Mably, Ph.D., another author of the study. “If you want to have your heart functioning into your 90s, this will be of interest to you, or anyone who has heart disease or had a heart attack.”
Dr. Mably is an associate professor of Internal Medicine in the Morsani College of Medicine and a member of the Center for Regenerative Medicine and USF Health Heart Institute. The USF Health team is supported by the USF Health Heart Institute in the Morsani College of Medicine and grants from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Jinghai Chen (who trained with Dr. Wang) and members of his lab at the Zhejiang University School of Medicine in China were also authors on the paper.
Cardiomyocytes are the building blocks of cardiac tissue and essential to the normal function of the heart. Because the heart is constantly contracting, it requires an immense amount of energy, which is produced by the mitochondria, the tiny sub-cellular structures often referred to as the powerhouse of the cell. Since mitochondrial protein synthesis is critical to its structure, as well as normal cardiac function, the authors focused much of their study on how alteration of the mitochondrial protein balance affects heart health.
“The heart muscle contracts from early development to the day you die, so it requires a huge amount of energy to run,” Dr. Mably added. “That’s what mitochondria provide; it’s like the gasoline you need to run your car.”
The importance of mitochondria in normal heart function is well recognized and recent studies have implicated changes in mitochondrial metabolism with some forms of heart disease. This work evolved from a previous study performed by this group. They showed that loss of a protein called MRPS5 in the developing heart leads to cardiac defects and embryonic death; loss of this gene at stages after birth led to enlargement of the heart and eventual failure. The cause of these cardiac abnormalities was shown to stem from an imbalance in the communication between the mitochondria and the nucleus of the cell.
In this new study, the authors examine the effects of decreased MRPS5, rather than its complete loss, on cardiomyocyte proliferation. Major damage from injury to the heart, often as a result of a severe heart attack, can lead to heart failure because the heart is no longer able to contract normally. This is because the damaged tissue in the adult myocardium, the muscle layer of the heart, is unable to repair itself after injury. These scientist found that a slight reduction of mitochondrial activity in the adult heart could facilitate heart regeneration after injury to the heart, which could lead to a new avenue of treating heart attack and other heart disease.
“We hope to be working with the pharmaceutical industry and learn how to better protect or repair hearts from damage,” Dr. Wang said. “Currently, clinicians can only do so much for a heart attack. This approach could help the heart grow back to normal. We might be able to regrow or repair the heart by using a gene therapy approach.”
Like the Energizer Bunny, this could lead to a new way of treating heart disease to allow older hearts “to keep on going and going…”
More information: Feng Gao et al, Reduced Mitochondrial Protein Translation Promotes Cardiomyocyte Proliferation and Heart Regeneration, Circulation (2023). DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.122.061192
News
Breakthrough in Antimicrobial Technology with Cinnamon-Based Nanokiller
The need for innovative antimicrobial agents has become increasingly urgent due to the rise of antibiotic-resistant pathogens and the persistent threat of infections acquired during hospital stays. Traditional antibiotics and antiseptics are often ineffective [...]
The Silent Battle Within: How Your Organs Choose Between Mom and Dad’s Genes
Research reveals that selective expression of maternal or paternal X chromosomes varies by organ, driven by cellular competition. A new study published today (July 26) in Nature Genetics by the Lymphoid Development Group at the MRC [...]
Study identifies genes increasing risk of severe COVID-19
Whether or not a person becomes seriously ill with COVID-19 depends, among other things, on genetic factors. With this in mind, researchers from the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn, in [...]
Small regions of the brain can take micro-naps while the rest of the brain is awake and vice versa
Sleep and wake: They're totally distinct states of being that define the boundaries of our daily lives. For years, scientists have measured the difference between these instinctual brain processes by observing brain waves, with [...]
Redefining Consciousness: Small Regions of the Brain Can Take Micro-Naps While the Rest of the Brain Is Awake
The study broadly reveals how fast brain waves, previously overlooked, establish fundamental patterns of sleep and wakefulness. Scientists have developed a new method to analyze sleep and wake states by detecting ultra-fast neuronal activity [...]
AI Reveals Health Secrets Through Facial Temperature Mapping
Researchers have found that different facial temperatures correlate with chronic illnesses like diabetes and high blood pressure, and these can be detected using AI with thermal cameras. They highlight the potential of this technology [...]
Breakthrough in aging research: Blocking IL-11 extends lifespan and improves health in mice
In a recent study published in the journal Nature, a team of researchers used murine models and various pharmacological and genetic approaches to examine whether pro-inflammatory signaling involving interleukin (IL)-11, which activates signaling molecules such [...]
Promise for a universal influenza vaccine: Scientists validate theory using 1918 flu virus
New research led by Oregon Health & Science University reveals a promising approach to developing a universal influenza vaccine—a so-called "one and done" vaccine that confers lifetime immunity against an evolving virus. The study, [...]
New Projects Aim To Pioneer the Future of Neuroscience
One study will investigate the alterations in brain activity at the cellular level caused by psilocybin, the psychoactive substance found in “magic mushrooms.” How do neurons respond to the effects of magic mushrooms? What [...]
Decoding the Decline: Scientific Insights Into Long COVID’s Retreat
Research indicates a significant reduction in long COVID risk, largely due to vaccination and the virus’s evolution. The study analyzes data from over 441,000 veterans, showing lower rates of long COVID among vaccinated individuals compared [...]
Silicon Transformed: A Breakthrough in Laser Nanofabrication
A new method enables precise nanofabrication inside silicon using spatial light modulation and laser pulses, creating advanced nanostructures for potential use in electronics and photonics. Silicon, the cornerstone of modern electronics, photovoltaics, and photonics, [...]
Caught in the actinium: New research could help design better cancer treatments
The element actinium was first discovered at the turn of the 20th century, but even now, nearly 125 years later, researchers still don't have a good grasp on the metal's chemistry. That's because actinium [...]
Innovative Light-Controlled Drugs Could Revolutionize Neuropathic Pain Treatment
A team of researchers from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC) has developed light-activated derivatives of the anti-epileptic drug carbamazepine to treat neuropathic pain. Light can be harnessed to target drugs to specific [...]
Green Gold: Turning E-Waste Into a Treasure Trove of Rare Earth Metals
Scientists are developing a process inspired by nature that efficiently recovers europium from old fluorescent lamps. The approach could lead to the long-awaited recycling of rare earth metals. A small molecule that naturally serves [...]
Cambridge Study: AI Chatbots Have an “Empathy Gap,” and It Could Be Dangerous
A new study suggests a framework for “Child Safe AI” in response to recent incidents showing that many children perceive chatbots as quasi-human and reliable. A study has indicated that AI chatbots often exhibit [...]
Nanoparticle-based delivery system could offer treatment for diabetics with rare insulin allergy
Up to 3% of people with diabetes have an allergic reaction to insulin. A team at Forschungszentrum Jülich has now studied a method that could be used to deliver the active substance into the [...]