Now in our 13th year of bringing you beautiful imagery from biomedical science every day

Search the archive of over 4000 images

New Beats
18 June 2012

New Beats

Skin and bones can heal themselves, but broken hearts are not so easily mended. Our heart is made up of two types of cells, fibroblasts for structure and muscle cells that do the beating. After a heart attack, muscle cells die and, in a struggle to repair the damage, fibroblasts multiply. But they make the heart tissue thicker and less flexible, imperilling the vital pump even further. Now, researchers studying mouse heart cells (pictured), have found that adding proteins which activate certain genes can turn fibroblasts into beating muscle cells (dyed red). What’s more, these converted cells integrate into existing heart muscle. And they form new junctions with existing cells (green bands), which means they can all beat in unison. This discovery brings hope for new ways to treat damaged hearts.

Written by Sarah McLusky

Search The Archive

Submit An Image

Follow on Tumblr

Follow on Instagram

What is BPoD?

BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

Read More

BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.