The University of Calgary is renowned for its scientists and researchers who have made numerous groundbreaking discoveries. One of their notable achievements is the identification of cells surrounding the heart capable of aiding its self-healing. Read on for more about this discovery, as reported by icalgary.
Understanding Heart Attacks
A heart attack, or myocardial infarction, is the death of heart tissue caused by a sudden disruption of blood flow to the coronary artery. This can result from artery blockage, rupture, narrowing, or compression of blood vessels.
The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort radiating to the shoulder, arm, back, neck, or jaw, sometimes resembling heartburn. Other symptoms include shortness of breath, nausea, dizziness, fatigue, or cold sweats. Men often report chest pain, while women are more likely to experience discomfort in the neck or arm or simply feel extreme fatigue. Heart attacks can lead to complications such as heart failure, arrhythmias, cardiogenic shock, or cardiac arrest.
High-risk groups include individuals with high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, elevated cholesterol levels, smokers, alcohol users, and those with unhealthy diets.
The Scientists’ Research
The heart is surrounded by the pericardium, a dense sac that isolates the heart from other organs in the chest, facilitates atrial blood filling, and protects the heart from displacement. This sac is filled with pericardial fluid.
Although this fluid has been tested before, its function was not well understood. In 2019, researchers at the University of Calgary discovered that the pericardial fluid in mice contains macrophages—cells within tissues that can help heal the heart after injury and may also prevent scarring of the cardiac muscle.
When researchers removed the pericardium from a lab mouse’s heart, they observed that without macrophages, scarring on the heart intensified. This revealed that previously unknown cells possess an extraordinary natural ability to heal heart muscle.
Later, scientists found macrophages present in human pericardial fluid as well. This discovery introduced the idea that these “rescue cells” could potentially be enhanced to completely heal heart scars.
Hope for Cardiac Treatment
One of the study’s co-authors, Dr. Paul Fedak, explained to Chadwick Lawrence that this discovery could help repair damaged cardiac muscle and pave the way for new treatment methods. It offers hope to millions of people suffering from heart conditions.
“We’ve always known the heart is enclosed in a sac filled with mysterious fluid, but now we understand that this fluid is essentially a lifeline for the heart, packed with healing cells,” said Dr. Fedak. “Macrophages have held the secret to cardiac muscle regeneration for years.”
Dr. Fedak added that while this breakthrough took nearly three years of research, the timeframe is still insufficient for immediate clinical application. Nevertheless, the discovery lays a critical foundation for further studies, which are vital as heart diseases remain among the most prevalent and dangerous illnesses worldwide, often leading to fatalities.
Dr. Paul Fedak is a cardiac surgeon, researcher, and senior medical director at the University of Calgary. He advocates for innovation and advanced surgical techniques to treat patients with progressive heart diseases. A graduate of the University of Toronto’s medical school, Dr. Fedak completed training in cardiac surgery (FRCSC) and biomedical science (PhD) at the same institution. He has introduced novel sternal closure methods and developed tissue engineering techniques to treat heart failure using biomaterials.