Study Monitors Heart's Ability to Form Alternative Blood Vessels After Stroke - Sarmad
A recent scientific study has revealed a new mechanism that may explain the heart’s ability to restore part of its blood flow after a heart attack. The findings show that some small capillaries can gradually transform into artery-like blood vessels, forming alternative pathways around damaged areas.
The journal Science reported last week on a study by a research team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, led by researcher Mingjun Zhang, which found that certain heart capillaries transform into collateral coronary vessels resembling arteries following a myocardial infarction.
The researchers explained that this process can help provide alternative routes for blood flow around areas damaged by ischemia, potentially improving blood and oxygen delivery to the heart muscle and supporting its recovery.
A heart attack occurs when a blockage in one of the coronary arteries reduces blood and oxygen flow to part of the heart muscle. In response, the body attempts to compensate for this deficit by forming new blood vessels that provide alternative pathways for blood.
Notably, the study found that some of these vessels do not originate directly from existing arteries but instead begin as small capillaries, undergoing a gradual transformation to become more artery-like and capable of transporting larger volumes of blood.
The team conducted its experiments on mice suffering from myocardial infarction, successfully tracking the development of blood vessels after the injury and observing the transformation of some capillaries into artery-like vessels.
The researchers also examined the role of VEGFA protein, a growth factor involved in angiogenesis, and found that temporarily elevating its levels after injury enhanced the transformation of capillaries into artery-like vessels.
This intervention was associated with improved blood flow to the heart muscle in the mice, along with a reduction in the size of the infarct-related scar and improvements in certain indicators of heart function, compared to mice that did not receive the intervention.
The researchers believe these findings may pave the way for developing future therapeutic approaches that harness the heart’s natural ability to form alternative blood vessels after a heart attack. However, the current results do not imply that VEGFA has become a treatment for heart attacks in humans, as the experiments were limited to animal models. Further studies and clinical trials are still needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of any potential treatment.
The study sheds light on the heart’s natural capacity to develop alternative blood flow pathways, which may help improve understanding of its recovery mechanisms following a heart attack in the future.
