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30 Sep 2022
‘Love hormone’ revealed to have heart healing properties
By Mischa Dijkstra, Frontiers science writer Image: Shutterstock.com Researchers show for the first time that the neurohormone oxytocin has a previously unsuspected function in both zebrafish and human cell cultures: it stimulates mature cells in the epicardium of the heart to become stem-like cells, which can replace heart cells lost after damage. This discovery could one day be used to stimulate the regeneration of the human heart after a heart attack. The neurohormone oxytocin is well-known for promoting social bonds and generating pleasurable feelings, for example from art, exercise, or sex. But the hormone has many other functions, such as the regulation of lactation and uterine contractions in females, and the regulation of ejaculation, sperm transport, and testosterone production in males. Now, researchers from Michigan State University show that in zebrafish and human tissue cultures, oxytocin has yet another, unsuspected, function: it stimulates stem cells derived from the heart’s outer layer (epicardium), to migrate into its middle layer (myocardium) and there develop into cardiomyocytes, muscle cells that generate heart contractions. This discovery could one day be used to promote the regeneration of the human heart after a heart attack. The results are published in Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology. […]