By Amy E. Hamaker Human heart tissue, unlike many other tissues
in the body, has an extremely limited ability to regenerate,
which is why coronary disease can be so deadly. A recent $75,000
gift from the Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation is helping
researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC better
understand the limitations of adult heart cells and develop
targets for improved regeneration through the use of embryonic
heart cells. “The heart needs to maintain output,” explained
Henry Sucov, interim director and associate professor of the
Departments of Cell and Neurobiology and Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology, whose project on adult cardiac muscle stem
cells is the beneficiary of the gift. “If you’ve lost heart
muscle cells, then the rest of the heart will compensate—but
only up to a point. After that, it leads to decompensated heart
failure, the leading cause of death in the Western world. “In
the lab, we’ve been studying what goes on during fetal heart
development—heart muscle cells divide act