Oxytocin is the love hormone and can help heal even broken hearts. In the true sense of the word. In fact, it seems that the molecule produced by the hypothalamus is able to help the regeneration of heart tissue after a heart attack, so much so that it has the potential to be used in the future as a treatment for heart attacks.
Infarction causes tissue necrosis
Following obstruction of one of the coronaries, the heart attack causes necrosis in the heart muscle. And according to the new study published in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, oxytocin helps the heart replace cardiomyocytes, the muscle cells that control the heart’s contractions. Researchers in Developmental Biology and Stem Cells and Biomedical Engineering at Michigan State University have found confirmation in zebrafish and human heart tissue produced by stem cells, finding that it is also an innate defense mechanism that we did not know we had. . “Oxytocin has another, unsuspected, function: it stimulates stem cells derived from the outer layer of the heart, the epicardium, to migrate into its middle layer, the myocardium, and to transform into cardiomyocytes, the muscle cells that generate contractions. This discovery could one day be used to promote regeneration of the human heart after a heart attack. “
Oxytocin stimulates tissue repair
“The first results in human cells suggest that oxytocin, when administered with the right timing and dose, promotes the activation of epicardial cells by stimulating the regeneration of necrotic tissues,” explains Professor Aitor Aguirre, lead author of the research. “Oxytocin is a neuroendocrine hormone best known for its functions during childbirth, breastfeeding and social bonds. However, it also plays other lesser known physiological roles, including in the cardiovascular system, where it lowers blood pressure and reduces inflammation. . This hormone also has cardioprotective benefits, but to date there was no evidence that it was able to directly regulate regeneration after heart damage. “
Oxytocin released by default after an injury
Following a heart attack, heart tissue can remain very compromised. In our body there are stem cells called EpiPc, progenitor cells derived from the epicardium, which can regenerate all types of heart cells, but unfortunately their production is inefficient to heal the heart on its own under natural conditions. “When epicardial cells are exposed to oxytocin, their proliferation rates increase. And if oxytocin is pharmacologically inhibited, cardiac regeneration slows significantly, resulting in an accumulation of fibrosis.” This means that “after a cardiac injury, oxytocin is released by default from our brain, to facilitate epicardial activation and regeneration of the heart”. Hence, aiding this mechanism with intravenous administration can have even more encouraging results.
The recovery potential? Exciting
“Heart regeneration is a coordinated effort involving communication between multiple organs, and our studies strongly indicate that the brain plays a central role in the reprogramming of human epicardial cells, establishing a neuroendocrine link that we did not know and with exciting potential in recovery after serious cardiac events, “continues Aguirre.
How to start the stem cell process
To move forward in research, human clinical trials will now be needed. “These results show that stimulation by oxytocin on cardiac stem cells is likely to be evolutionarily conserved in humans. This hormone is widely used in the clinic for other reasons, so it would be feasible to propose a trial on patients after injury. Even if the regeneration of the heart were only partial, the benefits could be enormous, “concludes Aguirre. “The next step will be a preclinical study, in which to examine oxytocin levels in humans after heart damage.” In this way it will be possible to see if this self-induced mechanism can actually be helped and if it already has different outcomes based on the extent.