Intense light boosts a critical gene that strengthens blood vessels and offers protection against heart attacks, reveals a new study. The findings of the study are published in the journal Cell Reports. Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have found that intense light amplifies a specific gene that bolsters blood vessels and offers protection against heart attacks.
‘Intensive light therapy offers a promising approach in treating or preventing low oxygen conditions such as myocardial ischemia.’
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"We already knew that intense light could protect against heart attacks, but now we have found the mechanism behind it," said the study's senior author Tobias Eckle, MD, Ph.D., professor of anesthesiology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.Read More..
The scientists discovered that housing mice under intense light conditions for one week `robustly enhances cardio protection,' which resulted in a dramatic reduction of cardiac tissue damage after a heart attack. They also found that humans could potentially benefit from a similar light exposure strategy.
In an effort to find out why they developed a strategy to protect the heart using intense light to target and manipulate the function of the PER2 gene which is expressed in a circadian pattern in the part of the brain that controls circadian rhythms.
By amplifying this gene through light, they found that it protected cardiovascular tissues against low oxygen conditions like myocardial ischemia, caused by reduced oxygen flow to the heart.
They also discovered that the light increased cardiac adenosine, a chemical that plays a role in blood flow regulation.
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Next, they investigated whether intense light had similar effects on healthy human volunteers. The subjects were exposed to 30 minutes of intense light measured in lumens. In this case, volunteers were exposed to 10,000 LUX, or lumens, on five consecutive days. Researchers also did serial blood draws.
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Eckle has long known that light plays a critical role in cardiovascular health and regulating biological processes. He pointed out that past studies have shown an increase in myocardial infarctions during darker winter months in all U.S. states, including sunnier places like Arizona, Hawaii, and California. The duration of the light isn't as important as the intensity, he said.
"The most dramatic event in the history of the earth was the arrival of sunlight," Eckle said. "Sunlight caused a great oxygen event. With sunlight, trillions of algae could now make oxygen, transforming the entire planet."
Eckle said the study shows, on a molecular level, that intensive light therapy offers a promising strategy in treating or preventing low oxygen conditions like myocardial ischemia.
He said if the therapy is given before high risk cardiac and non-cardiac surgery, it could offer protection against injury to the heart muscle which can be fatal.
"Giving patients light therapy for a week before surgery could increase cardio protection," he said. "Drugs could also be developed that offer similar protections based on these findings. However, future studies in humans will be necessary to understand the impact of intense light therapy and its potential for cardio protection."
Source-Eurekalert