Unravelling Zebrafish Heart Regeneration at Single-Cell Level. Danio rerio

Mammals exhibit limited heart regeneration ability, which can lead to heart failure after myocardial infarction. In contrast, zebrafish exhibits remarkable cardiac regeneration capacity. Several cell types and signaling pathways have been reported to participate in this process. However, a comprehensive analysis of how different cells and signals interact and coordinate to regulate cardiac regeneration is unavailable. We collected major cardiac cell types from zebrafish and performed high-precision single-cell transcriptome analyses during development and post-injury regeneration. We revealed heterogeneity as well as the molecular progress of cardiomyocytes during these processes, and identified a subtype of atrial cardiomyocyte exhibiting a stem-like state which may transdifferentiate into ventricular cardiomyocytes during regeneration.