Hemodynamic Support by Left Ventricular Assist Devices Reduces Cardiomyocyte DNA Content in the Failing Human Heart

Abstract

The decrease in polyploidy and increase in diploidy after left ventricular assist device suggest a numeric increase in diploid cardiomyocytes (eg, through cell cycle progression with completion of mitosis or by increased stem cells). The cardiac regeneration that follows may serve as a morphological correlate of the recovery observed in some patients after unloading.