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:
“Poor shad! where is thy redress? When Nature gave thee instinct, gave she thee the heart to bear thy fate? Still wandering the sea in thy scaly armor to inquire humbly at the mouths of rivers if man has perchance left them free for thee to enter.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A great deal of unnecessary worry is indulged in by theatregoers trying to understand what Bernard Shaw means. They are not satisfied to listen to a pleasantly written scene in which three or four clever people say clever things, but they need to purse their lips and scowl a little and debate as to whether Shaw meant the lines to be an attack on monogamy as an institution or a plea for manual training in the public school system.”
—Robert Benchley (1889–1945)