Good News For Heart Patients: New Molecule Found!

Want to get safe from Heart Attack Imagine you take a drug that you could take soon after a heart attack so it can reduce damage by protecting healthy heart muscle tissue.
When a heart attack occurs, time is muscle, “said Cardiologists. Without the supply of oxygen by blood flow, heart cells die faster. The major problem is that the area of dying tissue is not detached. Otherwise damaged heart cells start to send out signals to healthy cells, and the injury becomes much more severe. Scientists term this as spread of injury signals to nearby healthy tissues a "bystander effect."But what if there could be a way to keep the injury restricted to the group of cells that are directly affected by the hypoxic ischemic injury, while permitting the nearby heart muscle cells to remain undamaged?
A study published reveals that a new molecule developed by a team of researchers led might be helping for the preservation of heart tissue during or after a heart attack.
Nearly a decade ago a compound was discovered that focuses the activity of channels in cell membranes responsible for controlling key aspects of the bystander effect. But this compound, “alphaCT1”, also had some other unpredicted and useful effects, basically in relation to skin wound healing. It is found that this helped in reducing inflammation; healing chronic wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers. Researchers are trying to understand how the drug works on a molecular level.
The group designed molecules with certain chemical differences from the parent molecule, which led to an unpredicted discovery. alphaCT11 – variant of the alphaCT1, showed more strength than the parent molecule. It has been found that "AlphaCT11 predicted to be more effective than the original peptide in protecting hearts from ischemic injury. The study reveals that alphaCT11 gives a robust injury-reducing effect, even when 20 minutes are provided after the loss of blood flow that causes ischemic injury. When the variant is kept to the same test, the parent peptide failed to provide a heart-protective effect when administered after ischemic injury.
"AlphaCT11 can provide the base to treat heart attacks and prevent the spread of damage that occurs immediately after a heart attack,”. The researchers perfuse isolated laboratory mouse hearts, keeping the organ alive and beating for a number of hours. New methods are also developed for delivering alphaCT11 using natural tiny lipid droplets called exosomes. These newer experiments provide a stepping stone toward clinical series in patients who have suffered a heart attack.

By: Saksham Gupta
Content: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/08/190819082442.htm