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Scientists offer to treat a heart attack with light
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
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There are a large number of methods for treating a heart attack (myocardial infarction): cardiopulmonary resuscitation, aspirin, substances that destroy blood clots, and so on. Scientists from the School of Medicine at the Institute of Colorado (United States) offer the newest method - treatment of a heart attack with light.
The study showed that powerful light, including daylight, can reduce the risk of heart attack or minimize the damage caused by the heart muscle. What is the relationship between light and a heart attack? As it turned out, circadian biological rhythm is a connecting link - a cyclic diurnal fluctuation of biological processes in the body. Circadian rhythms are regulated by proteins in the brain, although they are also found in other organs of man, including the heart.
As the researchers found, one of these proteins, Period 2, plays a key role in preventing damage from myocardial infarction. Heart attacks occur in connection with blood flow disorders caused by a thrombus or bleeding, and this, unquestionably, prevents the supply of oxygen to the organs. In the absence of oxygen, the heart switches from its own usual "fuel" - lipids - to glucose. If this transition does not occur, the heart cells die, and the heart muscle is damaged.
Period 2 plays a very significant role in switching myocardial cells from lipids to glucose, and therefore this protein can make the metabolism of the heart muscle more efficient. The experiments demonstrated that powerful daylight activates the Period 2 protein in animals and reduces foci of damage from a heart attack.
To find out how light alters the metabolism of the heart muscle in humans and how this discovery can be used to treat myocardial infarction, a number of studies should be carried out, the authors of the work say.
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