Heart failure may be treated in the brain
LONDON, March 27 (UPI) -- A British study suggests cardiac medicines known as beta-blockers might heal the heart via the brain when administered during heart failure.
Up to now medical scientists have believed beta-blockers -- drugs that slow heart rate, lower blood pressure, control angina and help protect against from heart attack -- worked directly on the heart. But researchers at University College London said the drugs might also act via the brain, suggesting future cardiovascular disease therapies might target the central nervous system.
The study, based on a rat model of postmyocardial infarction-induced heart failure, discovered the beta-adrenoceptor blocker metoprolol acts directly in the brain to slow the progression of heart failure.
"Our study shows the importance of the brain in regulating the cardiovascular system," said Professor Mike Spyer, co-author of the research. "This is often ignored by cardiologists who concentrate on the dynamics of cardiac contraction and the receptors on the heart that influence this, rather than how the nervous innervation of the heart is regulated."
The UCL findings appear in the journal Circulation Research.
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Copyright 2008 by United Press International.
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