Viagra News (2005)

Viagra protects cardiomyocytes against cell death

Virginia Commonwealth University researchers have shown that a widely used drug for treating erectile dysfunction, Viagra, reduces the death of heart cells under heart attack-like conditions in a laboratory model.

The results are a key finding that may help researchers develop a new treatment for patients with heart failure where the loss of cells is primarily due to cell suicide.

In the Journal of Biological Chemistry, published online Jan. 24, Virginia Commonwealth University(VCU) researchers found that treatment with Viagra, generically known as sildenafil citrate, at clinically relevant concentrations produced therapeutic levels of nitric oxide (NO) in the heart cells of mice by increasing protein levels of two enzymes responsible for the synthesis of nitric oxide (NO).

"This research has established a strong basis for the design of future studies targeted towards investigating the clinical effects of sildenafil on survival of heart muscle following a major heart attack," said Rakesh C. Kukreja, Ph.D., professor of medicine, physiology and biochemistry at Virginia Commonwealth University(VCU), and lead author of the study.

"In addition, these findings suggest that this drug may slow or possibly reverse the progressive loss of heart cells during chronic heart failure in patients with coronary artery disease," he said.

Researchers used heart cells prepared from genetically engineered mice that lack nitric oxide synthesizing enzymes. The model was particularly useful in studying the protective effect of sildenafil in heart muscle cells independent of any vascular effects or other types of cells, Kukreja said. According to him, sildenafil not only protected against necrosis, accidental cell death occurring due to oxygen deprivation, but also against apoptosis, cell death following DNA fragmentation. He said that, sildenafil not only protected against necrosis, accidental cell death occurring due to oxygen deprivation, but also against apoptosis, cell death following DNA fragmentation.

Source: News-Medical in Medical Research News

Viagra may prove to be a heart-saver

VADODARA: Working on rats, researchers at M.S. University (MSU) have found the Viagra drug helpful in reducing the risk of a second heart attack that sometimes occurs while a first is being treated.

Prof R. Balaraman, head of the university's pharmacy department, and his PhD student S.B. Bothara hope these findings will hold good in humans too. VADODARA: Working on rats, researchers at M.S. University (MSU) have found the Viagra drug helpful in reducing the risk of a second heart attack that sometimes occurs while a first is being treated.

Source: Indian Express by Praveen Menon