New study highlights role of scarring after heart attacks

A study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine has shown that scarring plays a potentially important role in the recovery of the heart following a heart attack.

Scientists from the institution have conducted a study in which certain cells within the heart's outer layer were genetically manipulated in order to prevent the formation of scar tissue.

Scarring has been seen as a negative consequence of heart attacks, as it can harden the walls of the organ and restrict its ability to pump blood.

However, researchers found that stopping scar tissue from forming also leads to heart failure, as the heart wall no longer has enough tensile strength to prevent rupture.

Dr Arjun Deb, senior study author, said: "There must be some sort of a selection pressure in mammals to respond to heart injury by scarring, because if we interrupt this process then the heart quickly fails following injury."

Currently, the British Heart Foundation is participating in a research project called Mending Broken Hearts, which aims to study zebrafish to understand how they are able to regrow damaged heart tissue.