Field of study suggests activating cells with light
Many individuals who are hoping to keep heart attacks and stroke at bay buy Lipitor to reduce their chances of experiencing an adverse cardiovascular event.
Many individuals who are hoping to keep heart attacks and stroke at bay buy Lipitor to reduce their chances of experiencing an adverse cardiovascular event. According to a report published in the journal Circulation: Arrhythmia and Electrophysiology, a new technique that stimulates heart muscle cells with light could lead to the development of a cutting-edge pacemaker to keep patients healthy.
Lead author Emilia Entcheva and her team explained that electronic cardiac pacemakers and defibrillators are successful technologies. However, they are often subject to problems such as metal lead breakage, limited battery life and reduced efficiency due to strong magnetic fields.
"Eventually, optical stimulation may overcome some of these problems and offer a new way of controlling heart function," Entcheva said.
She and her colleagues explored the introduction of light-sensitive proteins into excitable cells, which helped regulate specific activities in neurons and muscle cells. This added to a growing body of research that found that brain cells could also be stimulated through the same mechanisms.
The scientists suggested that this method of non-viral cell delivery could make patient's cells light-responsive and capable of being used as donor cells.
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