Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Regenerative biology

Neuregulin 1 makes heart muscle

Nature volume 520, pages 445–446 (2015)Cite this article

Subjects

Three studies reveal that augmentation of a signalling pathway involving the growth factor neuregulin 1 and its receptor protein ERBB2 can promote the generation of muscle cells in zebrafish, mice and infant heart tissue.

Whether mature heart-muscle cells called cardiomyocytes can proliferate to make new muscle has been an area of contention for many years. The debate has implications for the treatment of cardiovascular disease, because the loss of cardiomyocytes can lead to heart failure and death. Mammalian cardiomyocytes were thought to stop proliferating in the first few days after birth1. However, evidence has emerged to suggest that adult mouse and human cardiomyocytes do proliferate, albeit in very small numbers2,3. Now, three studies (published in eLIFE4, Nature Cell Biology5 and Science Translational Medicine6) report that the growth factor neuregulin 1 (Nrg1) promotes heart regeneration in zebrafish, and cardiomyocyte proliferation in mammalian hearts.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Relevant articles

Open Access articles citing this article.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Get just this article for as long as you need it

$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Mending a broken heart.

Notes

  1. See all news & views

References

  1. Soonpaa, M. H. & Field, L. J. Circ. Res. 83, 15–26 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Bergmann, O. et al. Science 324, 98–102 (2009).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  3. Senyo, S. E. et al. Nature 493, 433–436 (2013).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Gemberling, M., Karra, R., Dickson, A. L. & Poss, K. D. eLIFE 4, e05871 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. D'Uva, G. et al. Nature Cell Biol. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncb3149 (2015).

  6. Polizzotti, B. D. et al. Sci. Transl. Med. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/scitranslmed.aaa5171 (2015).

  7. Poss, K. D., Wilson, L. G. & Keating, M. T. Science 298, 2188–2190 (2002).

    Article  CAS  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Cote, G. M., Sawyer, D. B. & Chabner, B. A. N. Engl. J. Med. 367, 2150–2153 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Bersell, K., Arab, S., Haring, B. & Kühn, B. Cell 138, 257–270 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Reuter, S., Soonpaa, M. H., Firulli, A. B., Chang, A. N. & Field, L. J. PLoS ONE 9, e115871 (2014).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Katherine E. Yutzey is in the Division of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology, Cincinnati Children's Medical Center, Cincinnati, Ohio 45229, USA.,

    Katherine E. Yutzey

Authors
  1. Katherine E. Yutzey
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katherine E. Yutzey.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Yutzey, K. Neuregulin 1 makes heart muscle. Nature 520, 445–446 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/520445a

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/520445a

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing