The Heart – An enigmatic organ – Prof. Giordano for “Medicine Highlights”

The heart isn’t just the muscle responsible for pumping blood: it’s a fascinating organ marked by surprising biological complexity. Recent studies suggest it has adopted an extreme evolutionary strategy to ensure its survival.

Unlike many other tissues that regenerate continuously, the heart has essentially “abandoned” cell division. This choice serves a fundamental purpose: to minimize genetic errors that could lead to tumors. Not surprisingly, primary heart cancer is so rare it’s almost nonexistent.

The price for this kind of immunity, however, is steep: when the heart sustains damage, it can’t fully recover. It’s an organ that has prioritized the stability and regularity of its rhythm over the ability to regenerate.

But the heart’s peculiarities go beyond its cellular function. Inside it lies a sort of “second brain”: about 40,000 neurons. These nerve cells are far from superfluous.

They gather and process signals, respond to stimuli, and send complex messages to the central nervous system. So the heart doesn’t just obey brain impulses—it communicates with us, influencing our emotions, pain perception, and level of calm.

The heart’s independence is so profound that, under certain conditions, it can keep beating even outside the human body. This is thanks to its internal electrical system.

The heart is designed to work autonomously: it doesn’t need external commands to generate each beat. This autonomy isn’t just physiological—it also reflects its role in our emotional lives.

The tight connection between cardiac neurons and the brain suggests that the expression “broken heart” has a scientifically grounded basis beyond its poetic charm. Emotionally devastating experiences can trigger real physical crises, like Takotsubo syndrome (or stress cardiomyopathy), where intense emotion temporarily alters the shape of the left ventricle, mimicking a heart attack.

In essence, the heart strikes a fascinating balance between biological stability and deep emotional sensitivity: an autonomous organ that’s fundamental to our inner experience.

Credits: This article was originally written in Italian for ilmattino.it​