14. Resisting Cardiac Arrhythmia
Michael Kotlikoff
Michael I. Kotlikoff, Biomedical Sciences, and research colleagues implanted living embryonic heart cells into the damaged cardiac tissue of mice that had suffered heart attacks, and the mice became resistant to cardiac arrhythmias. The group discovered that a protein called connexin43, expressed by the transplanted embryonic heart cells, improved electrical connections to other heart cells, which helped activate the transplanted cells deep within the damaged section of heart tissue. The researchers were able to see for the first time how cells used in therapy work with other cells in a complex organ within a living animal. The implant technique reversed in mice the risk of developing ventricular arrhythmias after a heart attack, the number one cause of sudden death in the Western world. The research has important implications for using cell-transplant therapies to restore damaged heart tissue in humans.