Recapitulation of developmental cardiogenesis governs the morphological and functional regeneration of adult newt hearts following injury

► Novel standardized newt heart resection model to help study cardiac regeneration. ► Heart morphology resembles that of uninjured controls, 3 months post-resection. ► Significant recovery of heart function as early as 60 days post-resection. ► Cardiac transcription factor up-regulation coincides with increased proliferation. ► Islet1 and GATA4 positive non-cardiomyocytes located within the regenerating zone.