The “engineer” cell discovered: it builds new arteries to restore blood to the heart after a heart attack
After a heart attackIt is known that the cells in the area affected by prolonged ischemia die. There is no oxygen. And above all, blood is missing, which runs along small vessels. What happens? Sometimes the myocardium repairs itself and, around the wound, develops new blood vessels on its own. But often these are not enough. We would need real blood “superhighways” capable of creating, in a short time, alternative passages for nourishment to the heart. In short, we would need a biological engineer capable of creating these new pathways that bring nourishment to the heart in the area affected by a heart attack. A dream? Perhaps. But there is hope that it can become a reality thanks to research coordinated by Elena Canowho works in the laboratories of Holger Gerhardt And Norbert Hübner at the Max Delbrück Center in Berlin. The study, which appeared on Circulation Researchhas in fact identified the “primordial” cell dedicated to the construction of new vessels, thus clarifying how the formation of arteries capable of nourishing the ailing heart could be initiated. And limit damage to the myocardium after a heart attack.
The “tip” cells
The attention of scholars has focused on a particular type of cell, defined as “pre-arterial” to clearly clarify its role as a precursor to the formation of new vessels. These cells have a progenitor, which would be these invisible “engineers”. To identify what have been defined as “tip” cells, therefore specialized and capable of identifying environmental signals to guide the growing vessels in specific directions, studies were conducted on the transcriptome of myocardial units of animals in different states of development.
Thanks to this research it was seen that these pre-arterial cells were already “directed” to develop into arterial cells, leading to the autonomous formation of new vessels. Not only that. The study also contradicts what seemed to be an unshakeable reality. It has always been thought that new arteries were formed with their length and diameter characteristics only in response to the liquid destined to pass through them. Now we know that this is not the case. As Cano says in a note from the center, “the study shows that pre-arterial cells already have characteristics of arteries before any fluid passes through them.”
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What can change
The German scholars, in addition to identifying the animal’s pre-arterial cells, reanalyzed previously published single cells collected by researchers in the United Kingdom from human embryonic heart tissue. And by comparing what happened in the two species they saw that something similar happens in humans too. And not only during the development of the organism. New arteries were in fact formed in human embryonic tissue through the same mechanism as heart attack damage in mice. All thanks to the “engineer” cell.
“We have shown that not only is this mechanism conserved between mice and humans during development, but it also persists throughout life and is activated after a heart attack – confirms Cano”. Understanding how coronary arteries form and regenerate appears to be of great importance. importance And it opens the way to possible treatments that stimulate these regenerative pathways, in the hope of correcting the myocardial damage after a heart attack, thanks to the formation of new arteries ready to restore blood and oxygen to the area affected by the heart attack.ischemia.
Heart door
Hormones (but not only), so we hope to regenerate the heart after a heart attack
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Hopes for tomorrow
“Cardiology has been committed for years to reducing the extent of heart attacks, achieving great results withangioplasty primary, procedure capable of reopening the coronary artery responsible for the heart attack – he explains Francesco Saiaof the Cardiac Thoracic Surgery Department at the Sant’Orsola Hospital in Bologna and President of the Italian Society of Interventional Cardiology – GISE. Unfortunately, numerous attempts to “regenerate” the damaged heart muscle have been plagued by failure. Although stem cells (of embryonic derivation, and therefore “totipotent”) capable of differentiating and becoming cardiac muscle cells have been identified, isolated and cultivated in the laboratory, attempts to make them “take root” at the level of the scar tissue of the heart attack are not successful in most cases.
“Among the various difficulties to overcome, there is that of conveying these cells to the right location which, very often, is poor in blood vessels – continues the expert. In fact, attempts have also been made to inject these cells directly into the infarct territory, with very disappointing results. The research shows that the pre-arterial cells described would be able to reform an effective blood circulation within the infarct scar tissue. Most likely this condition is not in itself sufficient to guarantee the regeneration of the cardiac muscle, but appears to be absolutely necessary to convey any “repairing” cells within the tissue itself and guarantee the necessary supply of blood and oxygen once they have developed. In short, a very important step in the field of regenerative medicine which, for acute myocardial infarction, still encounters enormous difficulties but in the future could improve quality and life expectancy for many patients”.
