At the III Congress of Biologists of Serbia, which was held in Zlatibor, from 21-25 September 2022, PI of ZEBARR Project Sc.D. Snežana Kojić gave an invited lecture entitled:
Mechanisms of heart regeneration – what can we learn from the zebrafish
In brief:
Among the many advantages that zebrafish offer as a model system is the remarkable ability to regenerate several organs, including the heart. Investigation of the mechanisms of zebrafish heart regeneration is of exceptional biomedical importance because humans and zebrafish are at opposite ends of the scale measuring endogenous regenerative capacity of the heart. The zebrafish regenerates injured heart and the final result is the replacement of damaged tissue with new functional tissue. Humans repair the heart injury by scarring, and remaining tissue is remodeled to preserve functionality. However, both humans and zebrafish successfully repair skeletal muscle injury. Our hypothesis is that the key for stimulating the endogenous regenerative potential of the human heart should be searched in the skeletal muscle. We are looking for genes involved in both heart regeneration and skeletal muscle repair in zebrafish. These genes should represent potential targets whose manipulation would stimulate the regenerative potential of the human heart.
