Understanding how fish grow their hearts could help humans, professor finds
It's already known some fish have big hearts -- at least during the winter. Now a U of G professor has identified a protein that enables fish to change the size of their hearts based on the temperature of the water. The finding might yield clues to treating or preventing heart damage in humans. "Fish put on collagen in the winter and take it off in the summer," said Todd Gillis, whose study, conducted with PhD student Elizabeth Johnston, was recently published in the Journal of Experimental Biology . "They do this so they can keep swimming over a broad range of temperatures." Understanding how fish are able to add and remove collagen is important because fish hearts and human hearts are similar in composition, said Gillis, a professor in the Department of Integrative Biology. When our heart becomes injured from a heart attack or other stressor, the body responds by building a scar, composed of collagen, in the damaged area. This scar is permanent ...