TAMPA, Fla., Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Scientists at the University of South Florida have shown stem cells from umbilical cord blood can be used to heal the heart muscle after a heart attack.
Human stem cells were injected into the heart of rats shortly after a heart attack. The cells helped reduce the damage and return the pumping of the heart to near normal. It was not clear if the cells themselves repaired the heart or if they secreted some sort of growth factor that aided healing.
Scientists also found the rats' bodies did not fight the foreign cells and it was unnecessary to administer drugs to suppress immunity.
In the United States nearly half of men and a third of women over 40 will suffer a heart attack. This development could help improve the lives of people who suffer chronic fatigue and shortness of breath caused by coronary damage.
"The possibility to regenerate and to restore function of the heart after myocardial infarction with stem cell transplantation holds great promise for treating heart failure," writes Dr. David Stern, dean of the Medical College of Georgia.
The USF study will be published online this week in the journal Cell Transplantation.
