Heart regeneration and the cardiomyocyte cell cycle
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Feb 23, 2026

Visualization of Cell Cycle Variations and Determination of Nucleation in Postnatal Cardiomyocytes
Published on: February 24, 2017
Michael Hesse1,2, Armin Welz3, Bernd K Fleischmann4,5
1Institute of Physiology I, Life & Brain Center, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Strasse 25, 53105, Bonn, Germany. mhesse1@uni-bonn.de.
Insights
Cardiovascular disease, including heart failure, necessitates new treatments. Manipulating the cardiomyocyte cell cycle offers a promising strategy to enhance heart repair and regeneration by promoting cardiomyocyte proliferation.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology and Regenerative Medicine
- Cell Biology
- Molecular Cardiology
Background:
- Cardiovascular diseases, particularly heart failure, remain leading causes of mortality.
- Limited cardiomyocyte regenerative capacity and loss of contractile tissue contribute to poor cardiac outcomes.
- Differentiated cardiomyocytes are postmitotic, partly due to polyploidy, hindering heart repair.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review the cardiac cell cycle and its variants during postnatal development.
- To explore heart regeneration responses based on developmental stage.
- To discuss cell cycle manipulation strategies for cardiac repair.
Main Methods:
- Literature review focusing on cardiac cell cycle regulation.
- Analysis of cardiomyocyte cell cycle variants and polyploidy.
- Examination of experimental approaches for inducing cardiomyocyte proliferation.
Main Results:
- The cardiomyocyte cell cycle is a critical factor in cardiac plasticity and regeneration.
- Understanding cell cycle variants is key to developing therapeutic strategies.
- Recent experimental strategies aim to induce authentic cardiomyocyte cell division.
Conclusions:
- Targeting the cardiomyocyte cell cycle presents a promising therapeutic avenue for heart failure.
- Inducing cardiomyocyte proliferation could enhance the heart's regenerative capacity.
- Further research into cell cycle manipulation is crucial for novel cardiovascular therapies.
Abstract:
Cardiovascular disease and in particular, heart failure are still main causes of death; therefore, novel therapeutic approaches are urgently needed. Loss of contractile substrate in the heart and limited regenerative capacity of cardiomyocytes are mainly responsible for the poor cardiovascular outcome. This is related to the postmitotic state of differentiated cardiomyocytes, which is partly due to their polyploid nature caused by cell cycle variants. As such, the cardiomyocyte cell cycle is a key player, and its manipulation could be a promising strategy for enhancing the plasticity of the heart by inducing cardiomyocyte proliferation. This review focuses on the cardiac cell cycle and its variants during postnatal growth, the different regenerative responses of the heart in dependance of the developmental stage and on manipulations of the cell cycle. Because a therapeutic goal is to induce authentic cell division in cardiomyocytes, recent experimental approaches following this strategy are also discussed.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Overview of Regeneration and Repair
Regeneration
All animals have varying degrees of...
Liver Regeneration
Cells of Liver
The liver comprises four major types of cells— hepatocytes, stellate, Kupffer, and sinusoidal endothelial cells. The hepatocytes are...
Tissue Renewal without Stem Cells
However, failure of such a system...
Specialized Characteristics of Cardiac Muscles
Cardiac muscle cells are smaller than skeletal muscles, averaging 10–20 mm in diameter and 50–100 mm in length. However, they have large energy demands for continuous contraction and relaxation. This energy is almost exclusively derived from aerobic metabolism of energy...
Physiology of the Heart: The Cardiac Cycle
Diastole: The Relaxation Phase
During diastole, all four heart chambers relax. The atrioventricular (AV) valves open, and the semilunar valves close. This phase sees the lowest chamber pressures, promoting ventricular filling. Venous blood enters the heart through the...
Cardiac Action Potential
The cardiac action potential process involves a series of phases characterized by the movement of ions across the cardiac cell membranes, leading to the depolarization and repolarization of the cardiac myocytes.
Ionic Basis of Cardiac Action Potentials

