How heart muscle cell growth is controlled near the time of birth

What is it about?

The heart grows more and more muscle cells throughout fetal life, but near the time of birth those cells start to mature and stop dividing. At the same time, these cells start to become bigger much more rapidly. Just before birth, it appears that some of them are pruned away. This paper describes the timing and magnitude of these changes.

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Why is it important?

Adult hearts don't grow new heart muscle cells like fetal hearts do, which is why heart attacks and heart failure are so bad. We want to know everything we can about muscle growth around the time of birth so we can help fetuses and infants grow strong, healthy hearts!