Monday, June 18, 2012

Can MicroRNA Repair Heart Scar Tissue?

The Atlantic reports These Amazing Injections Can Actually Repair Scarred Heart Tissue.

"Earlier this year, it was shown that some of the damage caused by a heart attack could be repaired by giving patients an injection of their own stem cells. Now, researchers from Duke University have done the same by injecting tiny molecules of RNA known as microRNAs."

"They then tested this combination on mice with damaged hearts and found that much of the scar tissue was converted into tissue that seems indistinguishable from normal heart muscle. The study did not test the ability of this change to restore heart function back to its pre-damage level."

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