Search research articles

ABOUT JoVE

Overview Leadership Blog JoVE Help Center

AUTHORS

Publishing Process Editorial Board Scope & Policies Peer Review FAQ Submit

LIBRARIANS

Testimonials Subscriptions Access Resources Library Advisory Board FAQ

RESEARCH

JoVE Journal Methods Collections JoVE Encyclopedia of Experiments Archive

EDUCATION

JoVE Core JoVE Business JoVE Science Education JoVE Lab Manual Faculty Resource Center Faculty Site

Terms & Conditions of Use

Search research articles

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Heart Dissection in Larval, Juvenile and Adult Zebrafish, Danio rerio

Heart Dissection in Larval, Juvenile and Adult Zebrafish, Danio rerio

Published on: September 30, 2011

Heart regeneration in zebrafish.

Kenneth D Poss¹, Lindsay G Wilson, Mark T Keating

¹Department of Cell Biology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Harvard Medical School, Children's Hospital, 320 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA. kposs@enders.tch.harvard.edu

Science (New York, N.Y.)

|December 14, 2002

Summary

Zebrafish fully regenerate injured hearts through cardiomyocyte proliferation, unlike mammals. Blocking cell cycle regulators like Mps1 kinase prevents this regeneration, highlighting its importance for cardiac repair.

Related Concept Videos

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by

Same author

Zebrafish knock-in lines enabling live visualization of extracellular matrix dynamics during development and regeneration.

Development (Cambridge, England)·2026

Same author

Enhancer-directed gene delivery for digit regeneration based on conserved epidermal factors.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2026

Same author

Enhancer-directed gene delivery for digit regeneration based on conserved epidermal factors.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026

Same author

The hard truth about how hard it is to publish in Development.

Development (Cambridge, England)·2026

Same author

geomeTriD: a Bioconductor package for interactive and integrative visualization of 3D structural model with multi-omics data.

Bioinformatics advances·2025

Same author

Epicardial Tcf21 facilitates cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation and heart regeneration in zebrafish.

Developmental biology·2025

Area of Science:

Cardiovascular Biology
Regenerative Medicine
Comparative Physiology

Background:

Cardiac injury in mammals and amphibians typically results in scar formation, with limited heart muscle regeneration.
Understanding the mechanisms of cardiac regeneration is crucial for developing therapies for heart disease.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the regenerative capacity of zebrafish hearts following injury.
To identify the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying cardiac regeneration in zebrafish.

Main Methods:

Histological analysis of zebrafish hearts after 20% ventricular resection.
Investigating the role of Mps1 mitotic checkpoint kinase in cardiac regeneration.
Assessing cardiomyocyte proliferation at the epicardial edge.

More Related Videos

Recovery of Adult Zebrafish Hearts for High-throughput Applications

Recovery of Adult Zebrafish Hearts for High-throughput Applications

Published on: December 12, 2014

Intrathoracic Injection for the Study of Adult Zebrafish Heart

Intrathoracic Injection for the Study of Adult Zebrafish Heart

Published on: May 14, 2019

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jul 6, 2026

Heart Dissection in Larval, Juvenile and Adult Zebrafish, Danio rerio

Heart Dissection in Larval, Juvenile and Adult Zebrafish, Danio rerio

Published on: September 30, 2011

Recovery of Adult Zebrafish Hearts for High-throughput Applications

Recovery of Adult Zebrafish Hearts for High-throughput Applications

Published on: December 12, 2014

Intrathoracic Injection for the Study of Adult Zebrafish Heart

Intrathoracic Injection for the Study of Adult Zebrafish Heart

Published on: May 14, 2019

Main Results:

Zebrafish demonstrated complete heart regeneration within 2 months post-injury.
Regeneration was driven by robust proliferation of cardiomyocytes at the epicardial edge.
Mutations in Mps1 kinase impaired regeneration, leading to scar formation.

Conclusions:

Injury-induced cardiomyocyte proliferation is key to scar-free cardiac regeneration in zebrafish.
Zebrafish serve as a valuable model for genetically dissecting cardiac regeneration mechanisms.
Targeting cell cycle regulators may offer therapeutic potential for cardiac repair.