Unlike animals such as the salamander and
the zebrafish, humans are unable to easily regenerate heart cells, making it
difficult to recover from the permanent damage caused by heart attacks.
In our near future, we may be able to regenerate
our heart cells just like the salamander and the zebrafish!
A group of scientists from Weizmann
Institute of Science in Israel and the Victor Chang Institute in
Sydney have discovered a way to stimulate heart muscle cells to grow!
The
heart is markedly different in this respect from human blood, hair and skin
cells, which are renewed throughout life. But as far as heart muscle goes, we
can’t match some animals.
In
my opinion, this idea is going to change the way we’ve lived so far. We could
live more than 150 years, and the blessing “May you live to be 120…” will be
offensive.
