BOSTON, March 31 (UPI) -- Vitamin C helped embryonic stem cells from mice convert into functioning heart muscle cells, a new study released Monday concludes.
The finding could have important implications for patients who suffer damaged hearts, researchers said, though it remains a long way from being incorporated into human therapies.
Dr. Richard T. Lee, associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, and colleagues took 880 bioactive substances -- including both drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration and vitamins -- to see what impact, if any, they might have on animal embryonic stem cells.
Of the substances tested, only one worked, Lee and colleagues report in the April 1 issue of the journal Circulation. Ascorbic acid -- the chemical compound more commonly known as vitamin C -- caused the new differentiated heart cells to beat spontaneously and rhythmically.
"We don't yet know how vitamin C yet does it," Lee told United Press International. "That's why it's so surprising to us. We're trying to figure it out now."
The stem cells are fetal immature cells that can develop into a variety of cell types throughout the body. Scientists have placed high hopes on the prospect that stem cells will help treat a host of chronic and debilitating illnesses such as Alzheimer's, diabetes and even cardiovascular conditions.
Vitamin C is known as a potent antioxidant, meaning it can combat harmful molecules in the body. However, Lee said vitamin C's ability to transform mouse embryonic stem cells into heart muscle cells doesn't appear to be due to its antioxidant properties. Other antioxidant vitamins, such as vitamin E, were also tested and found to have no effect.
The vitamin exposure helped "regenerate heart cells easily," Lee said. Although, he said, "these are mouse cells, so one of the questions we don't know is if this will work in humans."
Lee added the finding is so promising since physicians were taught for decades that once heart cells died, whether through a heart attack or heart failure, nothing more could be done. This research suggests new heart cells could be grown to replace destroyed ones.
Dr. Nieca Goldberg, a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association and a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, told UPI she found the research "very interesting."
Heart cells become irreparable during heart attacks, infections, and congestive heart failure, Goldberg explained. Given how common heart disease and heart attacks are in the United States, the ability to regenerate heart cells would be very useful.
According to the AHA, there are about 550,000 new cases and more than 51,500 heart-failure deaths each year as the result of heart attack, genetic disease, or other causes.
However, Goldberg said, "Before we can get to the human side of research, this is obviously a small step toward learning more about regeneration of heart muscle. This is not ready for clinical applications."
Goldberg also cautioned: "In no way should this mean taking vitamin C (on your own) to regenerate heart muscle. This study is just one small step."
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(Reported by Katrina Woznicki, UPI Science News, in Washington)
