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第十八篇 Human Heart Can Make New Cells Solving a longstanding mystery, scientists have found that the human heart continues to generate new cardiac cells throughout the life span, although the rate of new cell production slows with age. The finding, published in the April 3 issue of Science, could open a new path for the treatment of heart diseases such as heart failure and heart attack,experts say. We find that the beating cells in the heart, cardiomyocytes, are renewed,said lead researcher Dr. Jonas Frisen, a professor of stem cell research at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden. It has previously not been known whether we were limited to the cardiomyocytes we are born with or if they could be renewed1, he said. The process of renewing these ceils changes over time, Frisen added. In a 20-year-old, about 1 percent of cardiomyocytes are exchanged each year, but the turnover rate decreases with age to only 0.45 percent by age 75. If we can understand how the generation of new cardiomyocytes is regulated,it may be potentially possible to develop pharmaceuticals that promote this process to stimulate regeneration after, for example, a heart attack, Frisen said. That could lead to treatment that helps restore damaged hearts. A lot of people suffer from chronic heart failure, noted co-author Dr. | 
