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Published online 5 December 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2007.356
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Cells mend damaged mouse hearts
Key protein could help to keep the heart in rhythm.
Researchers have managed to restore heart function by transplanting muscle stem cells into damaged mouse hearts. Their results suggest that the technique could one day be used to heal heart tissue in humans.
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First Yamanaka's pluripotent cells and now Kotlikoff's heart cell research. I believe that scientists are on the verge of something "BIG". The animal trials will eventually have to somehow connect with human trials, there's no doubt.
More Re Stem Cells (1) Chapter I.D., "Cells Are Not Organisms" - Scientifically, cells are NOT organisms. The outer cell membrane is an Organ. Plain and simple...it is a multifunctional organ of the genome...cellular membranes and cells' contents are evolution products of the in-cell organisms, the genomes. Continued reference to cells as organisms is a gross anachronism that brakes/slows developement of life sciences. http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-P81pQcU1dLBbHgtjQjxG_Q--?cq=1&p=372 (2) A Cell, in and out of its outside membrane, is not only "specific application shaped" but also "specific application equipped", and the on-going search is about: - WHEN does it thus become "dedicated" by its genome, and - How does it thus become "dedicated" by its genome, and - Can/Does the genome ever "undedicate" a location-specific-application-dedicated cell and/or "rededicate" it. Dov Henis