According to global statistics, one of the leading causes of death among the masses is heart disease. It accounts for global mortality of 18.6 million. Among heart problems that are causing huge death rates, coronary artery disease is one of the most common ones. It is a disease that is characterized by plaque build-up inside the body which makes the blood supply to the veins a difficult task.
When the blood supply is troubled, it accounts for the onset of heart-related complications such as stroke and heart attacks. Healthcare specialists at the best Hospitals in Lahore comment that it can cause serious dysfunction of the heart muscles, leading to serious oxygen depletion.
Back in the day, there was a firm belief that there is no possibility of the heart muscle regenerating. But some recent researchers have found out that it can actually help with the aid of some hormones. This research was conducted by the Michigan State University team of researchers.
According to this new finding, oxytocin or also known as the love hormone. This hormone might help to assist the body in the stimulation of the regeneration of cardiomyocytes. If this is true then it is a huge medical breakthrough to treat people who have been dealing with such problems.
What is this Oxytocin?
This is a hormone that is produced by the hypothalamus. Oxytocin is known to play a front role in assisting females during childbirth and breastfeeding.
Dr Rigved Tadwalker who is a top-tier and certified cardiologist “The most common indications are for the promotion of labour and to control uterine bleeding in the postpartum setting.”
He also added that “Oxytocin is increased by activities that we often find pleasurable and/ or fulfilling. Typically, these are mind-body activities like meditation, yoga, or sexual intimacy. Also included are conversation, cooking, sharing a meal with someone, being charitable, performing acts of kindness, as well as engaging in forms of touch such as hugging, and massage.”
The Link Between Oxytocin and Heart Muscle Cells
Dr Aitor said that “Regeneration is a very demanding process energetically and imposes severe restrictions on heart function, so we reasoned there should be some kind of ‘central control’ rather than it being completely autonomous.
Our educated guess, based on what is known about the central control of other critical processes in the body, was potential neuroendocrine pathways are controlled by the brain. With that in mind, we took about 20 or so important neuroendocrine hormones and checked out their ability to activate the epicardial stem cells, which participate in heart regeneration. Oxytocin was the top hit,”
The Perfect Start
The researchers are positive about the impact that this study to increase the concept of better health and wellness in terms of cardiac treatments. Tawalker admitted that “We are not all the way there yet, but oxytocin, or a similar analogue that stimulates its receptor, could conceivably be utilized to regenerate the heart in humans after acute or chronic injury,”
“Unfortunately, oxytocin exists only briefly in the human circulation [with a] short half-life,” cautioned Dr Tadwalkar. “However, we could take advantage of this beneficial signalling pathway in humans by creating drugs that are higher in potency or with longer half-lives. Since we already use oxytocin clinically, this is not inconceivable.”
“When oxytocin is boosted naturally, we do not think there are any significant adverse effects,” he explained. “However, several studies have shown that oxytocin could promote dishonesty and fear the latter due to selective social bonding. When oxytocin is used medically in the obstetric world, there are a variety of systemic side effects. Common ones from a cardiovascular perspective include changes in blood pressure and heart rate, as well as rhythm disturbances.”
Future Prospects
According to the best doctors in Lahore, There is still a need for better learning and understanding of how this hormone works. One major drawback or shortcoming of this study is that it fails to understand the time period this hormone stays in the blood. Although the success rate of clinical trials has been very encouraging still the concept of expansion is not concrete yet.
Dr Patel said that there are some queries such as “How does it regenerate into an effective heart muscle cell?” he asked. “At what point does it stop regenerating? What other factor does it need to increase the mass production of the cells within the heart?”
“We also need to find out under what conditions or what other stimulating factors or chemicals it needs to sustain the change so that it does improve and not just transiently improve and then you’re back to having a problem,
