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Generation and Expansion of Human Cardiomyocytes from Patient Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells
05:38

Generation and Expansion of Human Cardiomyocytes from Patient Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

Published on: February 12, 2021

Cardiomyocyte proliferation contributes to heart growth in young humans

Mariya Mollova1, Kevin Bersell, Stuart Walsh

  • 1Department of Cardiology, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
|January 11, 2013
PubMed

Insights

Human heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) proliferate during childhood and adolescence, contributing to heart growth. This cell division decreases significantly after age 20, suggesting potential for regeneration in younger individuals.

Area of Science:

  • Cardiology
  • Developmental Biology
  • Cell Biology

Background:

  • Traditionally, postnatal heart growth was attributed to cardiomyocyte enlargement, not proliferation.
  • Recent animal studies and evidence of human cardiomyocyte turnover suggest proliferation's role in cardiac growth and regeneration.
  • This raises the possibility of an unrecognized role for cardiomyocyte proliferation in human heart development.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the role of cardiomyocyte proliferation in human heart growth during postnatal development.
  • To determine the age-related changes in cardiomyocyte cell cycle activity in the human left ventricle.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of left ventricular tissue from 36 healthy human hearts aged 0-59 years.
  • Quantification of cardiomyocytes in mitosis and cytokinesis to assess cell proliferation.
  • Correlation of cell cycle activity with changes in cardiomyocyte number.

Main Results:

  • Cardiomyocyte proliferation (mitosis and cytokinesis) was highest in infants and decreased significantly by age 20.
  • While mitosis was detectable throughout life, cytokinesis ceased after age 20.
  • The number of cardiomyocytes in the left ventricle increased 3.4-fold between age 1 and 20, aligning with observed cell cycle activity.

Conclusions:

  • Cardiomyocyte proliferation is a key contributor to developmental heart growth in young humans.
  • This finding implies that children and adolescents may possess myocardial regenerative capacity.
  • Abnormal cardiomyocyte proliferation could be implicated in heart diseases affecting younger populations, potentially offering new therapeutic targets.

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