Metabolic reprogramming restores heart function after heart attack
In experiments on mice, researchers have shown that changing the energy metabolism of cells promotes heart regeneration.Scientists from the Institute for Heart and Lung Research of the Max Planck Society have found a way to restore the ability of heart muscle cells to regenerate. Changing energy metabolism restores normal heart function after damage. The results open the door to new therapies after a heart attack.
Shortly after birth, the human heart largely loses its ability to self-repair when damaged. Therefore, injury or disease to the heart muscle results in irreversible damage.
The loss of regenerative capacity is due, among other things, to the loss of the ability of heart muscle cells to divide after birth. This is accompanied by a fundamental change in energy metabolism: instead of obtaining energy from sugars during glycolysis, heart cells use fatty acid oxidation.
To restore the ability of heart cells to regenerate, the scientists turned off in adult mice gene Cpt1b, which plays a key role in the oxidation of fatty acids. This caused the heart to switch to energy production through glycolysis and grow: the number of cells almost doubled over the course of the experiment.
The researchers then induced heart attacks in mice with the gene switched off. Analysis showed that in this case there is almost complete recovery from the damage. A few weeks after the heart attack, scarring in the heart muscle was barely visible, and the contractility of the heart had almost returned to pre-infarction levels.
Researchers are working to develop an inhibitor that will affect the activity of the CPT1B enzyme linked to the gene of the same name. This is needed to create a therapy for targeting damaged cells. Eventually such a treatment, if it proves safe, could be used in humans.