Medical Notes

Research Proves Viagra May Be Effective In Safeguarding The Heart From Damage Caused By High Blood Pressure

Date: 6th January 2009

By undertaking several experiments on animals, researchers have evaluated that Viagra (sildenafil), the medicine for treating erectile dysfunction in men, is capable of improving the function of the heart by increasing the safeguarding effects of a heart protective protein. According to researchers, the results obtained by them in regard to the effects of the anti-impotence drug Viagra on the heart make it apparent that Viagra might be able to prevent and treat heart damage caused by high blood pressure in the near future.

The researchers reveal that in the experiments conducted by them, Viagra was found to protect heart damage by unleashing specific effects on a single protein known as RGS2, which is further an important connection in reactions that are responsible for protecting the heart and preventing heart failure.

During the course of experiment, when mice (having the protective protein RGS2) suffering from high blood pressure were provided Viagra, they exhibited stronger heart muscle contraction as well as expansion, increased protection and less hypertrophy and ten times less stress related enzyme functioning in comparison to the mice group not treated with Viagra.

But while testing the hearts of mice who were made to lack RGS2 or regulator of G-protein signaling 2, plus were not treated with Viagra, it became apparent that after a week of enhanced blood pressure, the hearts of the animals had undergone around 90 percent expansion of weight. Altogether, the researchers also observed that 50 percent of this mice group had to die on account of heart failure. In continuation of the experiment, the researchers observed that hypertrophy or muscle expansion was postponed in mice with RGS2 who were not treated with Viagra. It also became evident that muscle expansion occurred by 30 percent only in this group of mice and not a single mouse died.

Further according to Dr. David Kass, a cardiologist, senior investigator and professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Heart and Vascular Institute, the anti-impotence medicine Viagra (Sildenafil) increases the protection offered by RGS2 in hearts of mouse.

Source: http://www.thaindian.com/