Regeneration and proliferation of cardiomyocytes and its microRNA regulatory mechanisms

Myocardial regeneration is identified as a concept at histological level. The core content is to increase the number of cardiomyocytes (CMs), so as to maintain the steady state of CMs under pathological or physiological conditions and ensure the normal cardiac function. In this review, we discussed the relevant factors involved in the regeneration of CMs, generalized in mice, large mammals and human. During different development stages of mammalian hearts, CMs showed several controlling and growth modes on the physiological or pathological state: mitosis, hypertrophy, nuclear polyploidy and multinucleation, amitosis and etc. We also discussed the mechanisms of specific microRNAs implicated in the cardiac development, as well as disease-induced apoptosis in CMs and the process of re-entering cell cycle after injury. It is hoped that this review will contribute to a deeper understanding of therapeutic approaches for myocardial regeneration after injury.