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Myocardial infarction (MI) is a leading cause of death globally. Due to limited cardiac regeneration, infarcted myocardial tissue is gradually replaced by cardiac fibrosis, causing cardiac dysfunction, arrhythmia, aneurysm, free wall rupture, and sudden cardiac death. Thus, the development of effective methods to promote cardiac regeneration is extremely important for MI treatment. In recent years, hydrogels have shown promise in various methods for cardiac regeneration. Hydrogels can be divided into natural and synthetic types. Different hydrogels have different features and can be cross-linked in various ways. Hydrogels are low in toxicity and highly stable. Since they have good biocompatibility, biodegradability, and transformability, moderate mechanical properties, and proper elasticity, hydrogels are promising biomaterials for promoting cardiac regeneration. They can be used not only as scaffolds for migration of stem cells, but also as ideal carriers for delivery of drugs, genetic materials, stem cells, growth factors, cytokines, and small molecules. In this review, the application of hydrogels in cardiac regeneration during or post-MI is discussed in detail. Hydrogels open a promising new area in cardiac regeneration for treating MI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiac fibrosis is closely associated with multiple heart diseases, which are a prominent health issue in the global world. Neurohormones and cytokines play indispensable roles in cardiac fibrosis. Many signaling pathways participate in cardiac fibrosis as well. Cardiac fibrosis is due to impaired degradation of collagen and impaired fibroblast activation, and collagen accumulation results in increasing heart stiffness and inharmonious activity, leading to structure alterations and finally cardiac function decline. Herbal plants have been applied in traditional medicines for thousands of years. Because of their naturality, they have attracted much attention for use in resisting cardiac fibrosis in recent years. This review sheds light on several extracts from herbal plants, which are promising therapeutics for reversing cardiac fibrosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of death in the global world. The emergence of single-cell technologies has greatly facilitated the research on CVDs. Currently, those single-cell technologies have been widely applied in atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction, cardiac ischemia–reperfusion injury, arrhythmia, hypertrophy cardiomyopathy, and heart failure, which are extremely helpful in elucidating the underlying mechanisms of CVDs from physiological and pathological perspectives at DNA, RNA, protein, post-transcriptional, post-translational, and metabolite levels. In this review, we would like to briefly introduce the current single-cell technologies, and will focus on the utilization of single-cell genomics in various heart diseases. Single-cell technologies have great potential in exploration of CVDs, and widespread application of single-cell genomics will promote the understanding and therapeutic treatments for CVDs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]