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Transcript
Heart cells die after a heart attack. Most of the dead cells are not replaced (at least not with beating cells). We are interested in finding out what cellular components cause this cell death. Mitochondria are structures within the cell that provide essential energy for fueling each heart beat, but under stress mitochondria become leaky and nonfunctional leading to cell death and heart failure. Our study is about the molecules that trigger mitochondria to cause the death of a cell. We found an enzyme in mitochondria that promotes cell death when the heart is stressed. Our study goes on to show that inhibiting this enzyme under stress conditions reduces the amount of cell death. The contribution of the proposed research is expected to provide important advances in therapy of heart diseases and mortality after a heart attack.