Olaf Bergmann's Team Found Heart Cells Renew at 1% a Year Using Carbon-14

1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Aug 20

Science data from Olaf Bergmann and colleagues showed adult cardiomyocytes do regenerate, at about 1% annually at age 25 and 0.45% by age 75.
Carbon-14 from 1955-63 above-ground nuclear tests created a global atmospheric spike that became locked into DNA when cells stopped dividing, letting researchers date cell birth to within about two years.
The finding overturned the long-held view that heart muscle is fixed at birth, but still implied limited repair capacity: fewer than half of heart muscle cells are replaced over a normal lifetime.
A 2015 follow-up on tissue from 29 deceased people found the heart's full muscle-cell complement is set within a month of birth, with later growth coming from cell enlargement rather than multiplication.
Turnover estimates remain disputed by alternative models, and the method itself is fading as fossil-fuel emissions dilute atmospheric carbon-14 below pre-bomb levels, narrowing its usefulness for people born after the mid-2020s.