Zebrafish study could help heart attack sufferers - Duke University

Could zebrafish hold the key to helping people who suffer heart attacks? Possibly, according to Duke University Medical Center scientists who studied the tropical fish and their "amazing" heart muscles. Humans have very limited ability to regenerate heart muscle cells, which is a key reason why heart attacks that kill cells and scar heart tissue are so dangerous, according to Duke's news release. "Our hearts don't seem so complex that they shouldn't have the capacity to regenerate," said Dr. Kenneth Poss, senior author of the study and professor of cell biology at Duke. Poss is also an investigator in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The study appears in the March 25 issue of Nature