Cardiac muscle regeneration

Cardiac muscle regeneration refers to the biological process by which damaged heart muscle tissue is repaired or replaced following injury such as myocardial infarction. In adult mammals—including humans—this regenerative capacity is extremely limited because most cardiomyocytes are terminally differentiated and have low proliferative potential. Research has focused on stimulating endogenous repair mechanisms through activation or transplantation of cardiac stem/progenitor cells expressing markers like c-Kit and Sca-1, manipulation of key signaling pathways such as Hippo-Yap/Wnt/β-catenin, and modulation by microRNAs that regulate cell cycle reentry in mature cardiomyocytes. While promising strategies exist—including gene therapy targeting these pathways or delivery of exogenous progenitor/stem cells—cardiac muscle regeneration remains an area under active investigation rather than a defined molecular target suitable for direct drug interaction. Thus "cardiac muscle regeneration" describes a complex physiological phenomenon rather than an individual therapeutic target molecule/receptor.

Other names

Myocardial regenerationHeart muscle regenerationCardiac regeneration

Not applicable for a process; mechanisms include modulation of signaling pathways like Hippo-Yap, Wnt/β-catenin, Notch signaling, miRNA-mediated gene regulation.