Cardiac Stem Cells

I recently read some exciting news in a study published in the authoritative British medical journal Lancet. This study gives us further hope that the goal of repairing heart muscle damaged in a heart attack is becoming ever more realistic.

We have known for some time that stem cells (biological cells that divide, diversify and self-renew) are important to helping patients recover from muscle injury resulting from heart attacks. If we can improve the conditions that increase stem cell production in these patients, we can improve their recovery. There are several ways to boost stem cell production. For example, there are tiny, specialized protein molecules called “myokines” which are produced by muscle; these molecules increase the body’s production of stem cells and promote healing from virtually every injury. The more muscle you have, and the more that muscle is exercised, the more myokines you produce and the better you heal. (Increased myokine production has also been shown to improve connections between nerve cells in your brain, as well as healing from virtually every injury known.) We have also known for several years that raising the thyroid hormone above normal levels for the short-term (that is, 2 to 3 months) increases the production of stem cells within the heart and can decrease the size of dead tissue resulting from a heart attack.