A new research has revealed that immune system plays an important role in the heart’s response to injury suggesting that embryonic macrophages in the heart promote healing after injury. Now researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that two major pools of immune cells are at work in the heart. Both belong to a class of cells known as macrophages. One appears to promote healing while the other likely drives inflammation which is detrimental to long-term heart function. 'Macrophages have long been thought of as a single type of cell' first author Slava Epelman MD