CHINA – Researchers at Sichuan University West China Hospital in Chengdu, China and the Memphis Institute of Regenerative Medicine at the University of Tennessee have found the use of Copper chelator in treating heart disease. According to a recent study, the use of trientine (TETA) is effective in curing heart disease. Traditionally, TETA was used to treat copper overload conditions such as Wilson’s disease. Now, researchers claim that while low dose TETA therapy helps restore copper levels and heart function, the high-dose could cause severe harm to the heart.
Myocardial ischemia and Cardiac hypertrophy are the heart diseases which make it difficult for people to live their lives effectively. Ischemia occurs where there is an insufficient supply of oxygen to the heart to function properly. On the other hand, in cardiac hypertrophy, abnormal enlargement of heart takes place in response to pathophysiological events. Due to both of these heart diseases, the structural and functional changes in the heart takes place which leads to the loss of copper in the heart.
Both these diseases could be treated by TETA therapy which simply helps maintain the copper level in the heart. Based on the studies carried out on animals, scientists have found that TETA therapy not only maintains the copper levels in the heart but also improves heart function. Although TETA is used to decrease the copper level in the blood, still it is beneficial for replenishment of cardiac copper.
Studies on animals have found that lower dose of copper only increases the cardiac copper but does not increase copper concentration in other organs. Where the high dose of copper leads to the reduction in the copper content in the hypertrophic heart. But there is a reduced copper concentration in the blood due to low and high doses. This discovery would help the ischemic patients significantly as TETA therapy not only increases the copper content in the heart but also decreases its concentration in the blood.
Be First to Comment