The heart is one of the busiest organs in the body. It pumps liters of blood non-stop during an animals's entire live, and any damage to its physical condition tends to be fatal. Myocardial infarctions are common and come in varying levels of severity. At their worst, they cause irreversible damage to the heart's tissue, jeopardizing the whole machinery. Currently, there is no way to restore lost heart function after a devastating heart attack in humans because the damaged tissue cannot be successfully repaired. The only option for many, is a heart transplant, which has its own risks and complications. However, a research paper recently published in the journal Regenerative Medicine documents the first ever account of heart tissue regeneration and function restoration in animals with a drug treatment. The discovery was made at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory. If the drug proves equally effective in human trials, its impact in cardiovascular epidemiology could be tremendous.
MSI-1456 …show more content…
Viravuth P. Yin began experimenting the MSI-1436 drug on zebrafish - animals with the ability to regenerate almost any body part. After observing that the drug dramatically boosted the animals regenerative capacity, the Ph.D scientist working at the MDI Biological Laboratory began experimenting with mice. After artificially inducing heart attacks in the mice, Yin observed that the drug triggered massive cell proliferation of heart muscle tissue and reduced the damage (scarring and ventricular wall thinning) caused by the heart attacks, helping to improve heart function by a significant degree. Given that mice share some of the genetic backend of regeneration with humans, these results are being interpreted by scientists as promising hints of the drug's potentially revolutionary application against cardiovascular diseases in
MSI-1456 …show more content…
Viravuth P. Yin began experimenting the MSI-1436 drug on zebrafish - animals with the ability to regenerate almost any body part. After observing that the drug dramatically boosted the animals regenerative capacity, the Ph.D scientist working at the MDI Biological Laboratory began experimenting with mice. After artificially inducing heart attacks in the mice, Yin observed that the drug triggered massive cell proliferation of heart muscle tissue and reduced the damage (scarring and ventricular wall thinning) caused by the heart attacks, helping to improve heart function by a significant degree. Given that mice share some of the genetic backend of regeneration with humans, these results are being interpreted by scientists as promising hints of the drug's potentially revolutionary application against cardiovascular diseases in