Could examining and understanding how pythons swallow massive meals help researchers develop new human heart medicines? A team of scientists has published encouraging results from a recent study.
Pythons are known for their ability to gulp meals that are much larger than their own body mass, which requires their hearts to rigorously work to digest these infrequent feasts. Studying the cardiac muscle of recently fed pythons found that the snake’s heart increases its oxygen use, pumps more blood, and swells in size. The python’s expanded heart capacity resembles that of an elite athlete – a heart that’s soft and flexible compared to the stiff and fibrous hearts found in people with cardiovascular diseases.
The study found that within 24 hours after eating, the python’s heart became softer and more powerful because of myofibrils that are responsible for muscle contraction. They also identified sirtuins known to regulate chromatin tightness which have been linked to positive responses from calorie restriction. However, the signals that activate sirtuins in puffed up pythons were not ascertained in this study.
Further research is required to fully understand the molecular structure that enables snakes to remodel their hearts. With that information, scientists could develop advanced treatments for human cardiovascular diseases that would make stiff hearts softer and more efficient at pumping blood.
Could examining and understanding how pythons swallow massive meals help researchers develop new human heart medicines? A team of scientists has published encouraging results from a recent study.
Pythons are known for their ability to gulp meals that are much larger than their own body mass, which requires their hearts to rigorously work to digest these infrequent feasts. Studying the cardiac muscle of recently fed pythons found that the snake’s heart increases its oxygen use, pumps more blood, and swells in size. The python’s expanded heart capacity resembles that of an elite athlete – a heart that’s soft and flexible compared to the stiff and fibrous hearts found in people with cardiovascular diseases.
The study found that within 24 hours after eating, the python’s heart became softer and more powerful because of myofibrils that are responsible for muscle contraction. They also identified sirtuins known to regulate chromatin tightness which have been linked to positive responses from calorie restriction. However, the signals that activate sirtuins in puffed up pythons were not ascertained in this study.
Further research is required to fully understand the molecular structure that enables snakes to remodel their hearts. With that information, scientists could develop advanced treatments for human cardiovascular diseases that would make stiff hearts softer and more efficient at pumping blood.