Science, Space and Technology News 2024
A groundbreaking study by Massachusetts General Hospital has revealed potential strategies to reverse heart scarring post-myocardial infarction by comparing scar formation in zebrafish and mice. The research highlighted differences in collagen cross-linking, suggesting that preventing the maturity of these links might allow for scar tissue resorption and heart regeneration, similar to the process observed in zebrafish.
The formation of permanent scar tissue after a heart injury is characteristic of all mammals. But zebrafish have a remarkable ability to completely remove scar tissue after an injury, allowing space for cardiac cells to regenerate and fully regrow a healthy heart. Scar tissue is comprised of collagen, long strands of protein that bind to each other to form a fiber that gives scar tissue its structure and stability. The process of binding of collagen molecules is called cross-linking.
Researchers have long believed that the extent of collagen cross-linking is the key to whether a scar is resorbable or permanent. But when the MGH investigators tested that hypothesis, they found that the amount of cross-linking was similar in the zebrafish and the mice after cardiac injury. However, the type of cross-link was different.
The authors further showed that the cross-links that form in the mouse hearts are a result of chemical modification of the collagen strands in mice, and that this doesn’t occur to the same extent in the zebrafish heart.This modification is made by an enzyme called lysyl hydroxylase 2; this enzyme is linked to permanent scarring in other organs in diseases of fibrosis.
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