Researchers create mouse model to network complex interactions
From: Ohio State University
June 17, 2022 -- Researchers
used mice to develop a mathematical model of a myocardial infarction. The new
model predicts several useful new drug combinations that may one day help treat
heart attacks, according to researchers.
The new model predicts
several useful new drug combinations that may one day help treat heart attacks,
according to researchers at The Ohio State University.
Typically caused by
blockages in the coronary arteries -- or the vessels that supply blood to the
heart -- these cardiovascular events are experienced by more than 800,000
Americans every year, and about 30% end up dying. But even for those who
survive, the damage these attacks inflict on the muscles of the heart is
permanent and can lead to dangerous inflammation in the affected areas of the heart.
Treatment to restore
blood flow to these blocked passages of the heart often includes surgery and
drugs, or what's known as reperfusion therapy. Nicolae Moise, lead author of
the study and a postdoctoral researcher in biomedical engineering at Ohio State,
said the study uses mathematical algorithms to assess the efficacy of the drugs
used to combat the potentially lethal inflammation many patients experience in
the aftermath of an attack.
"Biology and
medicine are starting to become more mathematical," Moise said.
"There's so much data that you need to start integrating it into some kind
of framework." While Moise has worked on other mathematical models of
animal hearts, he said that the framework detailed in the current paper is the
most detailed schematic of myocardial infarctions in mice ever made.
The research is
published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology.
Represented by a series
of differential equations, the model Moise's team created was made using data
from previous animal studies. In medicine, differential equations are often
used to monitor the growth of diseases in graph form.
But this study chose to
model how certain immune cells like myocytes, neutrophils and macrophages --
cells imperative to fighting infection and combating necrosis (toxic injury to
the heart) -- react to four different immunomodulatory drugs over a period of
one month. These drugs are designed to suppress the immune system so that it
doesn't cause as much damaging inflammation in parts of the heart that were
damaged.
This research focused
on the drugs' efficacy an hour after the mice were treated.
Their findings showed
that certain combinations of these drug inhibitors were more efficient at
reducing inflammation than others. "In medicine, math and equations can be
used to describe these systems," Moise said. "You just need to
observe, and you'll find rules and a coherent story between them.
"With the
therapies that we're investigating in our model, we can make the patient
outcome better, even with the best available medical care," he said.
Depending on their
health beforehand, it can take a person anywhere from six to eight months to
heal from a heart attack. The quality of care patients receive in those first
few weeks could set the tone for how long their road to recovery will be.
Because Moise's
simulation is purely theoretical, it won't lead to improved therapies anytime
soon. More precise mouse data is needed before their work can become an asset
to other scientists, but Moise said he does envision the model as a potential
tool in the fight against the ravages of heart disease.
"Its going to be
some years before we can actually integrate this kind of approach into actual
clinical work," Moise said. "But what we're doing is the first step
towards that."
The co-author of the
study was Avner Friedman, professor of mathematics at Ohio State. This research
was supported by Ohio State's Mathematical Biosciences Institute and the
National Science Foundation.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/06/220617111502.htm
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