Stem cells repair hearts early in life, but not in adults

Stem cells can actually replace dead heart tissue after a heart attack very early in life — but those same cells lose that regenerative ability in adults, according to new research. The study, using mice as subjects, found that undifferentiated precursor cells grow new heart cells in a two-day-old mouse, but not in adult mice, settling a decades-old controversy about whether stem cells can play a role in the recovery of the adult mammalian heart following infarction — where heart tissue dies due to artery blockage.

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