Each year, 1.1 million Americans experience a heart attack, and about one-third die, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. A key part of that effort is finding a way to impede the action of angiotensin, a hormone made in all body tissues that causes blood vessels to narrow, increasing blood pressure. Reduced blood flow to the heart is known as ischemia, and it can lead to heart attack. And if you save a person who is having a heart attack, their blood begins to flow again, but that in itself causes damage, and it's unavoidable. It's because the oxygen the restored flow brings is a type of oxygen molecule called a superoxide, which actually destroys cells in the heart, further weakening the heart muscle.
Angiotensin acts at specialized sites, known as angiotensin receptors.
And that way, excessive formation of angiotensin or greater activity can be responsible for blood vessel narrowing and enlargement of the heart. These medications need to be taken two to three times daily and often have a large number of side effects, such as persistent cough. Earlier UF research has shown that a brief period of reduced blood flow to the heart, akin to a heart attack in humans, results in the formation of two to three times more angiotensin receptors. So UF scientists treated rats with a molecule Phillips designed, referred to as antisense DNA, a type of reverse genetic message. Apparently, that is what makes the heart pump much better.