Heart Attack
Also known as myocardial infarction, a heart attack happens when the blood vessles that service the heart become blocked. With no blood flowing to the cells around those arteries, the cells die causing portions of the heart muscle to die as well. Once these cells are lost, they are not replaced, therefore causing permanent damage. Current research indicates that it may be possible to regrow the "damaged heart cells, heart tissue, valves and establish new blood supply to them." They would do this with the help of stem cells. Stem cells are the cells from which all other cells originate. They have the potential to develop into many different types of cells. These cells could be designed to develop into myocardial cells. They could then be used to replace the damaged heart tissue.
Read more about this topic: Cardiac Muscle Cell
Famous quotes containing the words heart and/or attack:
“Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak
Whispers the o’er-fraught heart and bids it break.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“And whether it is Thursday, or the day is stormy,
With thunder and rain, or the birds attack each other,
We have rolled into another dream.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)