When blood gets cut off to an organ, such
as during a heart attack, stroke or surgery, the tissue loses oxygen and its ability to produce energy.
Why attached to a hospital because as I age I worry about waiting for an
ambulance during my heart attack because it is busy transporting a home birth mom to hospital.
Within minutes of being deprived of oxygen — as
happens during a heart attack when arteries to the heart are blocked — the heart's muscle cells start to die.
To mimic the energy starvation of heart
muscle during a heart attack, the researchers created a «heart attack in a dish» by covering a thin layer of rat heart cells with glass to cut off the supply of oxygen and nutrients.
Professor Peter Weissberg, Medical Director at the BHF, which helped fund the research, said: «This exciting science explains how the carbon monoxide molecule, which is produced by our heart
cells during a heart attack, can protect hearts from potentially fatal disturbances of heart rhythm.
Their preclinical research findings about metoprolol in animal models, analyzed using MRI and published in the journal Circulation in 2007, showed early administration of
metoprolol during heart attack increased myocardial salvage and led to the translational medicine potential for human clinical trial.
The findings could lead to more personalized approaches to controlling platelet
activity during heart attacks and other vascular emergencies and diseases.
I've read cases of it being taken
internally during heart attacks to increase blood flow and help clear blockage, though thankfully, I've never had to test this one.
But
during a heart attack, the electrical excitation spreads randomly through the heart, shown in the lower image as a splotchy muddle of relaxed (red) and excited cells.
What happens to the heart
during a heart attack?
During a heart attack, clots or narrowed arteries block blood flow, harming or killing cells within the tissue.
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During a heart attack the body signals by activating certain genes.
But
during a heart attack or stroke, platelets form a clot that can potentially block blood flow through our veins and arteries, a dangerous condition called thrombosis, which can deprive tissues of oxygen and lead to death.