The consortium of researchers from Australia, the United States, Great Britain and China discovered the stem cells in mice, but these are also known to exist in humans. It is now known that about half of all healthy human heart muscle cells are replaced by new cells in the course of a lifetime, but until now it was not known where the “replacement” cells were to be found.

The cardiac stem cells have the purpose of renewing heart cells and repairing damaged heart tissue. The scientists hope that their discovery can make a long-term contribution to the treatment of heart attacks.

Source: http://www.scinexx.de/
Abstract: http://www.cell.com/