When a player is injured in the middle game, it is immediately replaced by another for his team to keep it running. However, when a heart has a heart attack, the damaged area is not repaired and the heart has to make do with the other 'players' to continue pumping, but at a different pace. Now, British scientists have developed a method for producing 'reserves' to replace dead cells in a heart attack and with the sound can continue working as before. This work, currently only has proved successful in mice but is a big step to open the door to new therapies.
Since stem cells known to exist in different parts of the human body, cardiologists have developed numerous studies with two objectives. The first is to show that even in the heart are those cells capable of becoming any cell type. On the other hand, they also seek a way to use as a therapy to regenerate cardiac tissue. Ultimately, the goal is a safe and effective method to transform these stem cells into new heart muscle components that can restore the function of the infarcted zone.
Stem cells are activated
The work, developed by researchers at University College London (United Kingdom), seems to have hit the mark of that search. These scientists focused on the epicardial progenitor cells are the stem cells of the outer membrane that surrounds the heart. In the embryo, they are able to transform into other specialty. However, it seems that when we become adults and can not give rise to other cells. The achievement of this team has been to restore that capability.
First, they injected a molecule called thymosin beta 4 in healthy hearts of adult mice. The researchers then returned to inoculate booster dose of the molecule in mice that suffered a heart attack. This substance triggered the activation of stem cells from the epicardium that began to transform into new heart muscle cells and integrate with other companions healthy heart muscle.
As the lead researcher, Paul Riley, "I could imagine that a patient with a high risk of myocardial infarction, well because of family history or symptoms because your doctor suspects to take a pill, based on this experiment, the line of statins, which could prepare their hearts so that, if you suffer a heart attack, the damage could be repaired. "
However, despite the excellent results, much work remains ahead. Although tyrosine led to the formation of adult cardiac muscle cells, their number was limited. The researchers plan to further explore the mechanism for developing a more effective method to transform stem cells into specialized cells.
To these constraints we must add the potential risks. "If this molecule is able to transform stem cells into other, could also cause tumors. So the main thing now would be to study the pharmacology of this molecule. This work he has done is to prove a concept, is further evidence that stem cells exist in the heart, contrary to what is being taught in medical schools. However, all the work that lies ahead must be done within a framework of security and this can take many years until he moved to the patient, "concludes the researcher
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