Latest Cardiac muscle Stories
Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine researchers are reporting a possible new blood test to help diagnose heart attacks. In the Journal of Molecular and Cellular Cardiology, researchers report that a large protein known as cardiac myosin binding protein-C (cMyBP-C) is released to the blood following a heart attack. "This potentially could become the basis for a new test, used in conjunction with other blood tests, to help diagnose heart attacks," said senior author...
(Ivanhoe Newswire) -- A new technique that stimulates heart muscle cells with low-energy light raises the possibility of a future light-controlled pacemaker, according to this study."Electronic cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators are well established and successful technologies, but they are not without problems, including the breakage of metal leads, limited battery life and interference from strong magnetic fields," Emilia Entcheva, Ph.D., senior author of the study and...
Study has implications for reprogramming human cardiac myocytes to replace damaged heart muscleStem cell researchers at UCLA have uncovered for the first time why adult human cardiac myocytes have lost their ability to proliferate, perhaps explaining why the human heart has little regenerative capacity.The study, done in cell lines and mice, may lead to methods of reprogramming a patient's own cardiac myocytes within the heart itself to create new muscle to repair damage, said Dr. Robb...
Recent studies have shown that the heart contains cardiac stem cells that can contribute to regeneration and healing during disease and aging. However, little is known about the molecules and pathways that regulate these cells. Now, a new study utilizing a heart failure model is providing insight into one way to coax the cardiac stem cells into repairing the damaged heart. The research, published by Cell Press in the August 2011 issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, finds that low doses of...
Clarifying terminology will help foster communication between different investigatorsThe European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Working Group on Myocardial Function is calling for a redefinition of the term cardiac hypertrophy which is currently used to describe changes to the morphology (structure) of the heart. Instead the position paper, published online today in the European Journal of Heart Failure, suggests that use of the general term myocardial remodelling should be preferred."We...
TOKYO, June 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Mitsubishi Chemical Medience Corporation announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510(k) premarketing notification clearance to the PATHFAST® cTnI-II (cardiac Troponin I) diagnostic test, clearing the way for its sale in the United States. The test is designed to be used with the PATHFAST analysis system, a unique, self-contained, bench-top chemi-luminescence immunoanalyzer that rapidly measures concentrations of...
A type of stem-like cell has been able to transform adult mouse hearts into functioning heart muscles that are able to repair itself, according to a study published in the journal Nature.Although major advancements in heart disease prevention have reduced the number of people who die from heart attacks, the number of those living with heart failure are on the rise, with more than 750,000 people having the condition in the U.K. alone, reports BBC News.The damage a heart attack causes when...
When you suffer a heart attack, a part of your heart dies. Nerve cells in the heart's wall and a special class of cells that spontaneously expand and contract "“ keeping the heart beating in perfect synchronicity "“ are lost forever. Surgeons can't repair the affected area. It's as if when confronted with a road riddled with potholes, you abandon what's there and build a new road instead.Needless to say, this is a grossly inefficient way to treat arguably the single most important organ...
Researchers at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) have identified a novel gene in the nucleus of muscle and brain cells that affects heart development and the aging process. Their investigation brings the promise of new treatments for an old, failing heart."We know that aging is the greatest predictor of cardiovascular disease and heart failure. So we have been working backward in time, looking at the fetal heart to understand changes in the process as it ages, grows frail...
New insight into the physiology of cardiac muscle may lead to the development of therapeutic strategies that exploit an inherent protective state of the heart. The research, published by Cell Press online on April 19th in the Biophysical Journal, discovers a state of cardiac muscle that exhibits a low metabolic rate and may help to regulate energy use and promote efficiency in this hard-working and vital organ.Muscle cells are highly specialized cells that are able to physically contract and...
