Diabetic hearts rely almost exclusively on fats for energy while a “normal” heart relies on fats and sugars for food.

Let me break it down for you. Both PPAR-alpha and PPAR-beta/delta are proteins that are found in heart tissue. In the diabetic heart, enhanced activity of PPAR-alpha drives the use of fats as fuel, but the role of PPAR-beta/delta has been unknown, which is unfortunate being that this protein increases cardiac function. In the mice that were engineered to mimic a diabetic heart, increased PRAR-alpha, there was increased fat, decreased sugar for fuel and a higher incidence of cardiac arrest.

Let’s hope that this discovery will aid scientists in further dissecting and discovering a way to increase those good ol’ PPAR-beta/delta proteins among diabetics.

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Diabetic Hearts Burn The Fat But Leave The Sugar Behind

The two major hurdles that needed to be tackled are becoming a reality…

…via Science Daily- solve two problems in the development of a stem cell heart patch. The first is undesirable side effects, such as arrhythmia, that can result from immature and undeveloped cardiomyocytes being introduced to the heart. The second is the need for a scaffold that is biocompatible with the heart and able to hold the new cardiomyocytes in place while they integrate into the existing heart tissue. Matching the material to human heart muscle is also hoped to prevent deterioration of heart function before the cells take over.

Are you following me on this one? The current researchers are now understanding how stem cell-derived developing heart cells can be matured in the laboratory and how materials could be synthesized to form a patch to deliver them to damaged areas of the heart. Seriously exciting news. More has to be done and many more hours and months and years of hard work is yet to come, but just think for a second… Would you be willing to give this a try, even in its experimental stage?

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Major Advancement For Stem Cells And Heart Repair

Could it be the ability to keep very sick hearts alive and working effectively for longer amounts of time then previous? Quite possibly! Could it be that even though there are more registered organ donors, our organs aren’t exactly what they used to be? High cholesterol, smoking, alcohol abuse and older donors… a different type of death.

What do you suppose is the solution? Well I do have 2 words for you… stem cells. I know how controversial and heated the debate is but just think what the implications could be if we were able to regenerate healthy heart tissue. Here is what the UK government has suggested.

The UK government is currently looking into turning our current system of “opting in” to being a donor, to “opting out”, where everybody is considered a donor unless they explicitly state otherwise. But this is a thorny issue, and there are some who believe that no matter how many people are dying on waiting list, the suggestion that the state presume control of our bodies is one step too far.

How do you feel about the above mentioned? Kind of interesting…

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More Organ Donors But Less Heart Transplants

We all know that smoking cigarettes increases your risk for heart disease, right? Then why don’t more people quit? Well duh, it is an addiction after all so that makes it more than tough. Researchers have found that the individual differences in brain chemistry can have a profound effect on a person’s susceptibility to addiction, and smoking may predispose adolescents to mental disorders in adolescence and adulthood such as affective disorders like depression. It is a vicious cycle!

Another risk factor in heart disease… obesity. Scientists can now measure how full or hungry a mouse feels, thanks to a new technique which uses imaging to reveal how neurons behave in the part of the brain which regulates appetite. Wouldn’t it be swell if we could figure out how to turn that food craving thing off in our heads? I know I would be happy. I am feeling over the top hungry lately and am trying to steer as far away from the kitchen as possible, that’s for sure!

And finally we may just figure out that whole paradox of resuscitation and restored blood flow and heart function and dying heart tissue! That would be very exciting. Using chemical probes and a novel technique called dual-wavelengths excitation spectrophotofluorometry, the Scientists saw that after the mitochrondria were subjected to ischemia followed by reoxygenation, a boost of calcium occurred in the mitochondria. So they went with it to further uncover the specifics.

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Hearty Health Links On This Fine Sunday…

How many children actually die from sudden cardiac arrest? An astounding 7,000 a year. Holy stuff! And worse yet, it is estimated that over 200,000 high school athletes dies suddenly from cardiac arrest yearly.

The exact causes in many cases are unknown. Congenital heart abnormalities and enlarged heart tissue that go undiagnosed contribute to some of the deaths.

Are you in favor of AED’s at schools? Let me know what you think. Personally I am in favor of having the little life saving devices in the schools. My children’s school has already implemented and trained all staff on the use of the AED, thank goodness!

Statistics pulled from High Beam Research

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AED’s In The Schools

Implanting human embryonic stem cells in rats four days after they had heart attacks repaired heart muscles and improved heart function, researchers from the University of Washington and the biotechnology company Geron report in an article appearing Monday in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

Previous attempts to “heal” with stem cells in a cardiac fashion have failed secondary to the limited success of deriving heart cells from the stem cells, as well as their failure to thrive. Imagine what could happen to the stem cell market if these same results can be found in humans. Wow!

via Science Daily

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Heart Cells Rebuilt Using Human Embryonic Stem Cells

British scientists are to try out a new way to repair damage caused by heart attacks. By injecting patients’ damaged hearts with stem cells from their own bone marrow scientists hope to regenerate tissue.

Researchers are hoping that this pioneering project will put them one step closer to using stem cells to routinely treat damaged heart tissue.

“One in three people will die within two or three years and the remaining people will have a very poor quality of life,” said Dr Ascione. “Your exercise tolerance will be very poor, you will not to be able to enjoy your life. If this [experiment] works you will minimize this … the point of this trial is to do the bypass and try to repair the scar, to make it a viable muscle again.”

What a remarkable thought for post heart attack and cardiac patients. The future holds such promise. What do you think about using stem cells to treat diseased tissue? Are you for or against it? Does it matter to you where the stem cells are harvested from?

via Health News Stats

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Stem Cells Used To Repair Damaged Heart Tissue