Can We Precondition the Body to Fight Heart Attack?

This is a guest post by Wee Peng Ho.

It has long been observed that when it comes to heart attack, patients who have had a heart attack before often fare better than those who have never had one. This phenomenon known as ischemic preconditioning where a temporary restriction of blood flow somehow strengthens cardiac tissues down the road has been the subject of active research in the last 25 years.

“The person with chronic heart disease who presents with a new heart attack does not appear nearly as disabled as the younger, healthier person with no history of heart disease, even though they present to the hospital with nearly identical blockages in their heart arteries,” said cardiologist Eugene Storozynsky, M.D., Ph.D.

Scientists hope that by finding out how the body adapts to previous assault to the heart, a new medication or treatment can be developed to reduce the damages caused by heart attack.

To date, how ischemic preconditioning really works is still unknown but researchers suspect that the molecule mitochondrial ATP-sensitive potassium channel, or mKATP, may hold the key to this mystery. However, mKATP is one elusive secret agent that is difficult to track down, much less observe and study.

Now, a team of researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center have developed a new way to measure the activity of the channel. The new method is much faster and less expensive and should be much easier to reproduce by other scientists, said Paul Brookes, Associate Professor of Anesthesiology and of Pharmacology and Physiology, who led the team.

The group has also identified the molecule that can restore the channel’s activity once mKATP fails to work properly. The new work, which is published online in the journal Circulation Research, paves the way for future studies on mKATP and is expected to enhance knowledge about the role that the channel plays in the heart.

But some medications can shut down the activity of the channel and diminish the protective effect of ischemic preconditioning as the team has discovered. These drugs include COX-2 inhibitors, beta-blockers and fluoxetine. COX-2 inhibitors are NSAIDs that are used to ease pain caused by chronic inflammation, while beta-blockers are commonly used to treat high blood pressure and heart problems. Fluoxetine is an anti-depressant often used to treat depression. Since patients with heart disease are also likely to be using one or more of these medications, scientists in this study calls for a closer look at the possible effects of these drugs on ischemic preconditioning.

With heart disease consistently being the top three causes of death in most developed countries, the outcome of this research could literally mean life and death for all of us. But ultimately, the best advice is: prevention is better than cure. Here is what heart expert Dr. Storozynsky has to say about how to prevent heart disease:

“People need to make sure they eat a balanced, low-fat, reduced-salt diet, exercise regularly, and control their blood pressure – these actions will cut down one’s risk for having a heart attack dramatically.”

Wee Peng Ho
The Conscious Life

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