A new study has helped unravel the mystery explaining how zebrafish regenerate a broken heart. Their findings, published in Nature Genetics, reveal how these amazing little fish can regrow up to 20% of their heart in only 2 months following an injury. This regeneration is driven by signals released from special cells called fibroblasts. When the heart of zebrafish is injured by a stimulus that mimics a heart attack (using […]
In a new review article published in Physiology, researchers speculate that arterial stiffness in middle-aged adults may actually be the body’s way of trying to compensate for widening of the blood vessel walls as we age. But that benefit turns into a risk with aging as it increases the flow of blood into organs like the brain, kidney, and heart and damages the small blood vessels in those organs. Interestingly, […]
Skeletal muscle is not only important for our ability to move, it also plays a major role in metabolism. Under normal conditions, the routine processes of muscle growth (hypertrophy) and breakdown (atrophy) are in balance. While many of us are aware that exercise and healthy diets promote muscle growth, diseases and sedentary lifestyles can promote muscle atrophy. Studies examining the effects of heat on muscle – from environmental heat, direct […]
At the end of pregnancy, levels of the hormone oxytocin increase to stimulate parturition, or childbirth. The stress hormone cortisol is also important for normal fetal development and, like oxytocin, cortisol increases at the end of pregnancy. This may help explain why chronic stress during pregnancy increases the risk of complications such as stillbirth. A new study published in the American Journal of Physiology – Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative […]
Zebrafish have been used in medical research since at least the 1970’s as their anatomy, physiology, as well as genetics are similar to humans. Other advantages to studying zebrafish is that they are inexpensive to raise, and they reproduce well in captivity. The ability to adjust one’s physiology in response to varying environments is called plasticity. An organism may encounter any number of environmental fluctuations (light/dark, temperatures, predation risk, noise, […]
Life Lines by Dr. Dolittle 