{
  "abstract": "A balanced immune response after cardiac injury is crucial to successful heart regeneration, but knowledge of what distinguishes a regenerative from a scarring response is still limited. The Mexican cavefish Astyanax mexicanus provides a unique comparative model to study heart regeneration and scarring within a single species. Astyanax surface-dwelling fish are capable of heart regeneration, whereas, like the human heart, their cave-dwelling Pachón counterparts form a permanent scar. Using single-cell transcriptomics and immune perturbations, we identify two distinct and largely sequential immune mechanisms driving regeneration in surface fish. First, late-present macrophages are actively phagocytic, and pharmacological inhibition of phagocytosis disrupts scar clearance and regeneration. Second, B cells recruited from 7 days post-injury promote cardiomyocyte cell progression into mitosis, and their inhibition with Acalabrutinib significantly impairs cardiomyocyte proliferation and regeneration. This B cell-dependent mechanism is conserved in zebrafish. Our findings reveal two independent late immune mechanisms distinguishing regenerative from non-regenerative cardiac repair, offering insights for potential therapeutic strategies to enhance heart regeneration in mammals.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine, Old Road Campus, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.",
    "Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.",
    "School of Biochemistry and Biomedical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.",
    "King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.",
    "Bioinfo, Plantagenet, ON, Canada.",
    "Institute of Developmental and Regenerative Medicine, Old Road Campus, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. mathilda.mommersteeg@dpag.ox.ac.uk.",
    "Department of Physiology, Anatomy & Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK. mathilda.mommersteeg@dpag.ox.ac.uk."
  ],
  "article_type": "research support, non u.s. gov't",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 15,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Esra Sengul"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Helen G Potts"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Ryan D Carter",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1839-3362"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "William T Stockdale"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Laura Bevan"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Maria Nozdrina"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jun Ying",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-2725-9819"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1
      ],
      "name": "Konstantinos Lekkos"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0,
        1,
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Rita Alonaizan",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-1118-5015"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Zhilian Hu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Abigail Goodship",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9173-6245"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Lucy O'Byrne"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Madeleine E Lemieux",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6355-8691"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2
      ],
      "name": "Rebecca Richardson",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-4701-8713"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5,
        6
      ],
      "name": "Mathilda T M Mommersteeg",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-6624-3038"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/90kvnk75s1a7c.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41467-026-77725-4",
  "fulltext_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13680611",
  "id": "90kvnk75s1a7c",
  "issns": [
    "2041-1723"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42897151",
  "language": "eng",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1312|Congenital heart defects research"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7213473204",
  "pdf_url": "https://europepmc.org/articles/PMC13680611?pdf=render",
  "pmcid": "PMC13680611",
  "pmid": "42897151",
  "published": "2026-09-17",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/90kvnk75s1a7c.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:41Z",
      "native_id": "MED:42897151",
      "source": "europepmc",
      "url": "https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42897151"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biochemistry",
      "origin": "openalex:1312|Congenital heart defects research",
      "subfield": "molecular-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Absence of a prolonged macrophage and B cell response inhibits heart regeneration in the Mexican cavefish.",
  "title_text": "Absence of a prolonged macrophage and B cell response inhibits heart regeneration in the Mexican cavefish.",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:41Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/90kvnk75s1a7c",
  "venue": "Nature communications",
  "versions": []
}