When a heart attack occurs, blood flow to the heart stops. Without oxygen, parts of the heart muscle die.

The heart muscle does not regenerate, but instead replaces dead tissue with a scar made of cells called fibroblasts, which do not have the heart’s pumping action. If there is too much scarring, the heart gradually enlarges (dilates), weakens, and eventually stops working.

“Current thinking is that advanced or chronic heart failure, in which the heart muscle has become too weak, is considered a stage of no return. Current understanding is that it is impossible to stimulate a heart in this state to generate a new heart. “Heart cells have the ability to repair themselves, and patients only have palliative treatment available to them,” said corresponding author Tamer M.A. Mohammed, associate professor of surgery and director of cardiac regeneration at Baylor College of Medicine. said the doctor.

Also read: 11 tips for women to prevent heart attacks after menopause

“This study, published in the journal Cardiovascular Research, shows that advanced heart failure can be treated and heart function improved in animal models.”

In previous research, Mohamed and his collaborators successfully used gene therapy to improve acute cardiac dysfunction in animals. Their method effectively and specifically delivered proliferation-promoting genes to heart cells to generate new heart muscle.

This approach not only strengthened the heart and improved its ability to keep blood flowing, but also prevented the subsequent congestion typical of the livers, kidneys, and lungs of rats and pigs.

“In this study, we did something that hasn’t been done before,” Mohamed said. “We intervened with the same gene therapy, but not in acute heart failure or early in the disease as in previous experiments, but later in the chronic phase of the disease, four weeks later, when the heart had been severely damaged. I intervened.”

Four months after the animals were treated, the researchers examined heart function and heart structure. “We were surprised to see evidence of significant cardiac cell proliferation, significant reduction in scar size, and significant improvement in cardiac function,” said lead author Riham R. Abreisa, Ph.D., assistant professor of surgery and cardiothoracic surgery at Baylor University. said.

“The treatment partially improved liver and kidney function, although it did not improve the dilated heart or congestion in the lungs associated with chronic heart failure.”

The results of this study show for the first time that, contrary to expectations, it is possible to induce cardiac cell proliferation in advanced states of heart failure, improve heart function, and have beneficial effects on liver and kidney function. Ta.

“Our study has important implications for a large group of patients with advanced heart failure, for whom there are currently no treatments that improve their condition,” said Mohamed. “This approach offers the possibility of developing new future treatments for this deadly disease.”