The insect's venom repairs the damage caused by a heart attack

A treatment that can potentially save the lives of those who have suffered a heart attack has been discovered by a very surprising source of sight - the poison of one of the world's deadliest spiders.

An element developed by a molecule found in the poison of the French - island spider Kʹgari can prevent damage from a heart attack. The discovery was made by a team led by Dr. Nathan Palpant, Professor Glen King of Queensland University and Professor Peter Macdonald of the Heart Research Institute.

Palpant from the Institute of Mactic Bioscence (IMB), said the element detected a deadly “synal” that sends hearts after a heart attack.” After a heart attack, the flow of blood in the heart decreases, causing lack of oxygen in its muscles. This causes the cell environment to become acid, leading to the death of heart cells. Despite decades of research, no one has been able to develop a drug that prohibits this death signal in heart cells, and that is one of the reasons why heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the world”- says Dr. Palpant.

He tested a protein called Hi1a, using human heart cells to see if the drug improved their survival. The Hi1a protein from spider venom blocks ions that cause acidity in the heart, so the message of death is blocked. Cell death decreases, and we see a significant improvement and survival of most of their cells”- he stresses.

There are currently no drugs in clinical use to prevent the damage caused by heart attacks. Professor Macdonald says that this discovery will help hundreds of thousands of people who have a heart attack every year throughout the world, but it may increase the number and quality of heart donors, which will give hope to those waiting on the transplant list.

Professor Macdonald, who is also an old cardiologist at the St. Vincent Hospital in Sydney, Australia, added:<x0.0. Heart management with Hi1 protein, and reducing cell death will increase the likelihood of a successful transplant.

Usually, if the donor's heart has stopped beating for more than 30 minutes before the return to function, it cannot be used. And if we can buy another 10 minutes of time, it can make the difference between someone who has a heart and someone who lacks”.

The discovery is based on Professor King's earlier study, which identified a small protein in the poison of the Kʹgari spider, which was found to improve markedly healing from stroke.

We discovered that this small protein, Hi1a, significantly reduces brain damage even when it is given up to 8 hours after the stroke begins. So it made sense for Hi1a to be tested in heart cells, since like the brain, the heart is one of the most sensitive organs in the body to stop the flow of blood and lack of oxygen.

We think that in the future, Hi1a is immediately given to victims of a heart attack, as soon as they arrive at the emergency, and that would really change the heart condition of their”- he said.