MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH FOR BRISTOL HEART INSTITUTE AND BIOCHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT

Main Menu | News By Date | News By Supplier | News By Category | About Us

MAJOR BREAKTHROUGH FOR BRISTOL HEART INSTITUTE AND BIOCHEMISTRY DEPARTMENT
19 March 2007 - University of Bristol

A major breakthrough in research could lead to improved recovery of the heart when it is re-started after a heart attack or cardiac surgery. For the first time ever, researchers at the University of Bristol have been able to directly measure energy levels inside living heart cells, in real time, using the chemical that causes fireflies to light up.

Dr Elinor Griffiths said: "Being able to see exactly what's going on in heart cells will be of great benefit to understanding heart disease."

The 'power stations' within heart cells that make energy are called mitochondria. They convert energy from food into chemical energy called adenosine triphosphate, or ATP.

Under normal conditions, mitochondria are able to make ATP extremely rapidly when the heart is stressed, such as during exercise or in 'fight-or-flight' mode.

However, if the cells are made to beat suddenly from rest, a situation that happens when the heart is re-started after cardiac surgery or a heart attack, the team found there is a lag phase where the supply of ATP drops before mitochondrial production starts again, potentially preventing the heart from beating properly.

The researchers made use of a protein called luciferase, which is normally found in the tails of firefly and is what causes them to light up. Using molecular biological techniques, they transferred modified forms of the luciferase DNA into heart cells, the cells could then make their own luciferase, and the modifications enabled the luciferase to be produced inside the mitochondria.

Since luciferase lights up in the presence of ATP, the amount of light, and hence the amount of ATP, could be detected using a microscope and a highly sensitive camera.

Dr Griffiths explained: "The breakthrough presented by this technique could be of benefit in heart diseases where mitochondria cannot make enough ATP. When that happens the heart does not have enough energy to perform its function of pumping blood efficiently which can result in a heart attack."

Exactly how mitochondria tailor the supply of ATP to demand is not fully known. Being able to directly measure ATP levels inside mitochondria of living heart cells in real time will go a long way towards understanding this more fully.

http://www.bris.ac.uk

About: University of Bristol
The University College of Bristol opened in 1876, after six years of discussions and controversy, in a bid to bring university culture to the provinces. It was the first college in the country to admit men and women on an equal footing.

The University’s Research and Enterprise Development (RED) division was launched in 2000 to stimulate and support an entrepreneurial culture and encourage the growth of technology-based business.

2003 saw the completion of the Dorothy Hodgkin building, named after the University’s fifth Chancellor. The £18 million building is dedicated to research in neuroendocrinology. 2003 also saw the opening of the University’s £5 million Centre for Sport, Exercise and Health.

Work on a new, state-of-the-art engineering building is due to be completed in early 2004. The £20 million BLADE project (Bristol Laboratory for Advanced Dynamics Engineering) will bring together the Engineering Faculty’s six departments to establish Europe’s most advanced dynamics engineering research facilities.

More News:
  • For March 2007
  • From University of Bristol
  • For Superconductors