Viagra may help ailing hearts
2008-05-13 14:06
Washington - A Canadian study involving
mice shows that anti-impotence pills might protect the hearts
of people with a common form of muscular dystrophy, researchers
said on Monday.
Canadian researchers gave sildenafil, the active ingredient
in drug maker Pfizer Inc's Viagra, to mice with an animal
version of Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and found that it
improved their heart performance.
They said it would be premature to give Viagra to people
with the disease, but said the results indicate the drug
potentially could be used to prevent or delay heart failure in
children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
The mice were given doses of the drug comparable to those
administered to treat erectile dysfunction in men.
The study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, showed that sildenafil cut the levels of damage to
contracting heart muscle cells.
"If you don't give the sildenafil, the heart of these mice
doesn't function as well as normal mice, and they are more
susceptible to stress-induced cell death," said researcher
Christine Des Rosiers of the Montreal Heart Institute.
She said in an interview the drug worked to improve heart
performance in the mice by preventing the breakdown of a
naturally occurring chemical. Called cyclic guanosine
monophosphate, or cGMP, it is involved in a number of cellular
signalling pathways, the researchers said.
Other impotence drugs also affect the chemical cGMP,
including vardenafil, sold by Schering Plough under the brand
name Levitra, and tadalafil, sold by Eli Lilly and Co under
the brand name Cialis.
Duchenne muscular dystrophy is an inherited wasting disease
characterised by weakness and progressive degeneration of the
muscles, including the heart muscle. It begins in the legs and
pelvis, and later affects the whole body. Most people with the
disease must use a wheelchair by about age 12.
It is caused by a genetic mutation of dystrophin, a protein
vital to muscle cells.
Heart problems can appear at around age 10 and they
progress quickly, affecting most people with the disease by age
20. These heart problems are an important cause of death among
patients with muscular dystrophy.