As those in the medical field are aware, cardiac arrhythmias are one of the most dangerous and costly cardiac conditions to manage and treat. Billions of dollars annually are earmarked for cardiac medicines and diagnostic testing in hospitals and rehabilitation centers. One of the major dangers following an acute myocardial infarct is the development of electrical irregularities that occur due to muscle damage and interruption of the normal electrical pathway of the heart.

Recently, scientists discovered when transplanted embryonic heart cells were placed into cardiac tissue of mice that had experienced heart attacks, the arrhythmias stopped. It is a further known fact that a single protein named connexin43 improved the electrical connections to other heart cells. This action aids the cardiac cells deep within the muscle to maintain electrical conduction with the original heart muscle cells.

This process is not new, however, and in the past, scientists have not been completely successful in obtaining any significant improvement in cardiac function, and trial and error found that attempting to insert skeletal muscle cells in with the myocardial cells caused additional damage and electrical beat dysfunction. Hopefully, this is now outdated.

Researchers have learned through cell-based therapies that by using genetically modified heart cells that express certain sensors, that these transplanted cells were indeed stimulated during normal heart muscle contractions. Scientists are making daily advancements and exciting discoveries, enabling a future of hope among millions of those incapacitated by disease, and among those that love them.