Understanding how ageing affects heart cells

The role of cardiomyocyte senescence and cardiac regeneration in ageing

Dr Gavin Richardson and his team at the University of Newcastle are working out how heart cells age and whether heart disease affects heart repair processes. Age is the biggest risk factor for heart disease. Older people are more likely to develop heart disease and they also don’t recover as well following a heart attack. We now know that heart muscle can repair itself (regenerate) in very small amounts after injury, but as we age this regenerative ability decreases. Dr Richardson has found that this is because heart cells age in a particular way. He has discovered that as we get older some heart cells become senescent – they stop performing their ‘biological duties’ and cannot divide or grow. This means they can’t contribute to any regeneration of heart muscle Dr Richardson believes that oxidative stress (an accumulation of dangerous types of oxygen molecule called free radicals) is important in driving cells to become senescent. He will study how heart cells become senescent during ageing, how this contributes to age-related heart diseases, and the contribution of oxidative stress to this process. Together with his team, he will investigate if heart disease contributes to cells becoming senescent and therefore to the heart becoming unable to heal itself after it is injured. This research could reveal a new way to restore the heart’s ability to repair itself as it gets older, which could help to protect us against heart disease as we age.