“Every organ has a brain and it is possible to rejuvenate nerve cells as we did with the heart.” This is the outcome of the study published in Minerva Cardiology and Angiology by Massimo Fioranelli, department of Human Sciences of the Guglielmo Marconi University of Rome and head of the Center for Cardiology and Integrated Medicine of the Sanatrix Clinic, also in the capital.
A little brain in the heart
The cardiologist continues: “Research has made us understand that in the heart, as in all organs, there is a small brain made up of 40-80 thousand nerve cells”. These neurons, like those of the brain, produce neurotrophins whose progenitor is Ngf – Nerve growth factor -, a protein discovered in 1950 by Rita Levi Montalcini, Nobel Prize winner for Medicine and Physiology in 1986.
Subsequently, the scientific community discovered others. “For example, Bdnf (Brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a neutrophic factor derived from the brain. It is a neurotrophin essential for neuronal development and survival, synaptic plasticity and cognitive function which produces not only the brain but all organs, who have a small brain. Over the years, Bdnf has been studied, observing that its deficiency can cause neurodegenerative diseases, depression as well as cardiovascular diseases or heart failure to progress”, specifies Fioranelli.
Rejuvenate cardiac nerve cells
Then comes the idea behind the study. Which the cardiologist illustrates thus: “It was decided to administer Bdnf in atrial fibrillation, a benign arrhythmia which can put many patients at risk of stroke. We saw that the administration of Bdnf reduced the episodes of atrial fibrillation in a statistically significant manner, in a progressive manner as age increases. In conclusion, the heart produces substances to repair itself, Bdnf has a trophic and regenerative effect on lost cells: we have rejuvenated the nerve cells of the heart”.
In terms of the use of the neurotrophin Bdnf on the most critically ill patients, the cardiologist points out that “the use of this substance with powerful antioxidant effects counteracts the aging of nerve and brain cells, and acts on the aging of heart cells”. Underlining that “specifically, a supplement that contains this neurotrophin is already on the market”.