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(EMAILWIRE.COM, February 02, 2012 ) Milwaukee, WI -- Upon its release, Viagra caused a revolution in the world of sexual dysfunction. Next, Viagra appears to promise to revolutionize the world of cardiac medicine. A recent study published in the December 20 issue of the medical journal Circulation indicates that Viagra may be the cure for a common heart condition.
Approximately half of all people over the age of 60 who are hospitalised on account of a weak heart are suffering from diastolic heart failure as a result of hardened cardiac walls. Having inflexible ventricles means that the heartÂ’s chambers do not fill with a sufficient amount of blood, which by extension causes a range of problems from cold limbs to breathing difficulties. According to new research, conducted by scientists from Ruhr University Bochum in Germany and the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Viagra could be the solution.
The active ingredient in Viagra, sildenafil citrate, is a PDE-5 inhibitor. When it comes to erectile dysfunction, it works by stopping the PDE-5 enzyme from breaking down another enzyme called cGMP, which is necessary to relax the muscles of the penis so that blood may enter the erectile tissues. This is much the same process that sildenafil citrate has been found to initiate in the heart.
Sildenafil citrate ensures that there is enough cGMP enzyme. The cGMP enzyme, in turn, activates yet another enzyme, which attaches phosphates to certain proteins. One such protein is the cardiac muscle protein known as titin. When phosphates attach to titin, the protein becomes relaxed which results in softened heart walls.
“The titin molecules are similar to rubber bands. They contribute decisively to the stiffness of the cardiac walls.” says Dr. Wolfgang Linke, author of the study, in an official press release by the Ruhr University Bochum. “The effect occurs within minutes of administering the drug.”
The research was conducted on eight elderly dogs, ages 8-13, with artificially induced hypertension and four healthy young dogs, around 1 year old. The dogs were examined before and after receiving sildenafil citrate. In a separate group of dogs, seven elderly hypertensive dogs and seven young and healthy dogs had tissue removed and studied from the still beating heart while under sildenafil citrate treatment. The study results showed that the effect of sildenafil citrate was the same in elderly and sick dogs as in young and healthy dogs. All dogs were mixed-breeds of similar size and weight.
What occurs in dogs does not necessarily translate to humans, which is why Dr. Linke points out that “in the so-called ‘Relax’ study of the Heart Failure Network, the efficacy of Sildenafil in people is already being tested.” If the drug shows positive results in human trials, he says, these animal trials explain why.
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