New Research Suggests Hearts Are Experts at Self-Preservation

Bristol researchers have identified a heart protection mechanism in mice that surgeons and cardiologists may be able to exploit to improve treatments for patients in future. The research, published in the October issue of the American journal Critical Care Medicine, was funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and conducted by Saadeh Suleiman, Professor of Cardiac Physiology at the University of Bristol, and his colleagues at the Bristol Heart Institute. It describes surprising responses of the heart to mock cardiac surgery in a mouse model. When the heart was stopped and restarted - mimicking the conditions used in most heart bypass surgery - scientists found that hearts with coronary disease from genetically modified mice were more resistant to damage than hearts without coronary disease.