Myocardial infarction can lead to arrythmias, which increase mortality, but the mechanisms behind this are unclear. A study by researchers from the Riley Group and published in Nature Cardiovascular Research shows that the capacity to regenerate the cardiac conduction system is reduced with age soon after birth in mice, resulting in pathological remodelling and an increased risk of arrythmia after myocardial infarction.
Using advanced whole mount imaging the researchers mapped the regeneration of ventricular conduction system (VCS) versus loss and fibrosis at later stages, and single cell sequencing identified changes in VCS cell composition and altered gene expression with loss of regenerative capacity. Finally, functional electrocardiogram differences at later stages mapped to arrythmias observed in human MI patients. The study by Sayers et al. 1 provides important insight into mechanisms that enable regeneration of the VCS after MI.
The main author for this paper is Judy Sayers, a Wellcome and MRC-funded PhD student in the Riley Group. This research also involved a wider group of researchers in the Riley Group, and they collaborated with the Herring group on the electrophysiology studies.
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