Unfortunately, the number of people who fall victim to heart attacks every year continuously rises. A recent experiment, however, has shown that a specific kind of protein can heal dead heart tissue, caused by what is also known as a myocardial infarction.
The Protein Patch: What did the heart attack research experiment entail?
According to reports, the heart attack study, which was conducted by “international students from Stanford University”, used a protein called follistatin-like 1 – in the form of a patch – in order to potentially heal heart tissue through the process of regeneration. Before being tested on human victims, the collagen-based protein patch was tested on mice and pigs that had long suffered from heart attacks. In the words of recent reports, once the mice and pigs were given the patch, which was attached to their hearts, “the researchers found out that their muscle cells started to regenerate, thus, resulting to better heart function”. The cardiac muscle cells were able to regenerate in a span of approximately two to four weeks, as opposed to months.
What would this heart attack research experiment mean for human victims?
Due to the success of the experiment on mice and pigs, the Stanford researchers are excited about the future prospect and medical applications of this technology. It can be used, for example, to cure permanent damage caused by heart attacks and also simultaneously heal dead heart muscle. However, since this study was conducted on two different animals, more research is needed in order to prove that the collagen-based protein patch would be useful to human recovery. While the heart attack study is currently taking place, there are still no treatments or drugs that can heal or regenerate dead heart muscle.
