Instead of implanting a medical device to keep arrhythmic hearts beating on pace, researchers at Ohio State dream of being able to give the heart back its own natural pacemaking abilities.
Making pacemakers obsolete is the ultimate vision of Vadim Fedorov, Cynthia Carnes, PharmD and Peter Mohler at The Ohio State University Dorothy M. Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute. They were recently awarded a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to dig deeper into sinus node dysfunction, a condition associated with atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter.
SND manifests itself in the sinoatrial node, a bundle of neurons in the heart’s upper right atrium that’s responsible for generating electrical impulses that trigger muscle contractions that pump blood out of the heart.
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The researchers’ hypothesis is that an increased sensitivity to a metabolite called adenosine is responsible for faulty sinoatrial nodes. They’re using a 3D mapping system developed by Fedorov, along with damaged hearts from consenting donors at OSU Wexner Medical Center’s transplant center, to test their hypothesis.
Admittedly, the researchers say it will be years before they can turn their attention toward new treatments for arrhythmias. But they think drug treatments or stem cell therapies are potential options.
“The SAN knows when to beat faster during exercise or slower during sleep, but an electronic pacemaker beats steadily,” Fedorov said in a statement. “We seek to restore and heal the SAN, rather than rely on pacemakers as the remedy.”
