A new class of medication reduces the damage to the heart muscle during a heart attack

U.S. scientists have discovered a new class of drugs that significantly reduce the damage to the heart muscle during a heart attack in animal experiments. You can be in the future is an integral part of emergency care in this disease. Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Pennsylvania injected mice with artificially induced heart attack drugs that inhibit the enzyme histone deacetylase (HDAC), which changes the "packaging" of DNA, and thus the activity of genes and protein synthesis. It turned out that these drugs reduce the injuries, that portion of the heart muscle, dead because of the blood flow, more than half. And this effect occurs, even one hour after the onset of infarction. Further studies have shown that under the effect of histone deacetylase inhibitors, block the activity of the genes for the death of cardiac muscle cells, and increased permeability of blood vessels of the heart to a reduction in blood flow (ischemia). It was also found that the most important role in the response of the cells is a subtype of the histone deacetylase HDAC4 on ischemia. If the efficacy and safety of drugs are confirmed in humans, the treatment of heart attacks will become more efficient, and these drugs can be used during a heart operation. Histone deacetylase inhibitors are currently treated successfully used to treat epilepsy and some cancers.