Do Neonatal Mouse Hearts Regenerate following Heart Apex Resection?

The mammalian heart has generally been considered nonregenerative, but recent progress suggests that neonatal mouse hearts have a genuine capacity to regenerate following apex resection (AR). However, in this study, we performed AR or sham surgery on 400 neonatal mice from inbred and outbred strains and found no evidence of complete regeneration. Ideally, new functional cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells, and vascular smooth muscle cells should be formed in the necrotic area of the damaged heart. Here, damaged hearts were 9.8% shorter and weighed 14% less than sham controls. In addition, the resection border contained a massive fibrotic scar mainly composed of nonmyocytes and collagen disposition. Furthermore, there was a substantial reduction in the number of proliferating cardiomyocytes in AR hearts. Our results thus question the usefulness of the AR model for identifying molecular mechanisms underlying regeneration of the adult heart after damage. •We examine the neonatal mouse heart regeneration model following apex resection•The apex-resected hearts do not hold the suggested complete regenerative potential•Instead, hearts heal by scarring and exhibit reduced cardiomyocyte proliferation•The challenging dogma that the neonatal heart is regenerative remains questionable Neonatal mouse hearts have been reported to be regenerative following apex resection. However, in this study, Andersen, Sheikh, and colleagues were unable to reproduce this. Specifically, they found that the resected apex remains lost, cardiomyocyte proliferation is reduced, and that the wounded heart heals by a scarring response similar to that observed in the inert adult heart following damage.