Viagra Also Effective for Arrhythmia Prevention and Treatment

English Researchers Confirm in Sheep Experiments... Human Heart Anatomical Structure Similar to Sheep

(Photo by Bloomberg News)

[Asia Economy Senior Reporter Jinsoo Lee] The male erectile dysfunction drug Viagra is expected to soon be used to protect the heart as well.

A research team at the University of Manchester in the UK announced in a paper published on the 3rd (local time) in the official journal of the American Heart Association (AHA), Circulation Research, that Viagra has been found to be highly effective in preventing arrhythmia.

For the heart muscle to contract and supply blood throughout the body, continuous and repetitive electrical signals must be generated. The heart has an electrical conduction system that autonomously creates regular electrical signals and transmits them throughout the heart. When changes occur in this system, irregular or abnormal heartbeats occur, which are called arrhythmias.

Arrhythmias can occur due to mild myocardial infarction or heart disease, but they can also be caused by viral infections or the use of mood-altering drugs or alcohol. These can lead to strokes or heart attacks.

The current findings were obtained from research conducted on sheep. Dr. David Hutchings, who led the paper's preparation, explained the results by saying, "It is highly likely to apply to humans as well," adding, "The size, anatomical structure, and electrical circuits of the human heart are similar to those of the sheep heart." Therefore, an effective arrhythmia treatment method applicable to humans may be developed someday.

Metin Avkiran, Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation (BHF), which commissioned the study, said, "Sheep heart cells are similar to human heart cells," and predicted, "The more we learn about irregular heartbeats, the closer we get to better methods for preventing and treating arrhythmias."

Viagra’s effectiveness in preventing arrhythmia appears to be due to its ability to reduce the amount of calcium in heart cells. Calcium is a very important element for heartbeats.

When sildenafil, the active ingredient in Viagra, enters myocardial cells called myocytes, it induces the sarcoplasmic reticulum to increase calcium release. Therefore, if the amount of calcium in the sarcoplasmic reticulum becomes too high due to heart disease, arrhythmia occurs.

In experiments conducted on sheep, sildenafil was confirmed to prevent arrhythmia within 90 seconds.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.