Acute light expands a specific gene that boosts blood vessels and protects against heart attacks, a study suggests. The study was published in the journal ‘Cell Reports’. “We already know that extreme light can protect us from a heart attack, but now we have discovered the mechanism behind it,” says Tobias Eckill, senior author of the study.

“Given light therapy to patients a week before surgery increases cardiovascular protection. Based on these results, drugs that offer similar protections can be developed. However, future studies are needed in humans to understand the efficacy and efficacy of acute light therapy.”
Scientists have found that housing rats under severe light conditions ‘strengthen cardio protection’ for a week, resulting in a significant reduction in heart tissue damage after a heart attack. They have found that humans can benefit from a similar light exposure strategy.

In an effort to discover why they have developed a heart-protecting strategy using intense light to target and alter the function of the PER2 gene expressed in a circadian model of the brain that controls circadian rhythms.

They found that by extending this gene to light, it decreased the flow of oxygen to the heart, protecting the cardiovascular tissues from low oxygen conditions such as myocardial ischemia. They found that light enhanced cardiac adenosine, a chemical that plays a role in blood flow control.

However, blinded rats did not receive cardio protection, indicating the need for visual light perception. Subsequently, they investigated whether severe light had similar effects on healthy human volunteers. The contents were exposed to 30 minutes of intense light measured in lumens. In this case, volunteers were exposed to 10,000 LUX, or lumens, in five consecutive days. Researchers also made serial blood draws.