Discovered Key Regulator Of Heart And Blood Vessels’ Development (and It Can Be Manipulated...)
Tuesday, August 23, 2011 - 16:20
in Health & Medicine
Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) already account for one third of all global deaths and raising, with effective heart regeneration therapies yet to be developed despite worldwide research efforts. But a new study, by scientists from Oxford University and the University of Coimbra in Portugal, might have put us a step closer with the discovery of the key molecule regulating the development of several heart and blood vessels’ tissues in the zebrafish embryo. The molecule, called Fibroblast growth factor (FGF) works like a “switch”, inhibiting and activating the genes for different tissues to obtain a balanced heart.read more