Horizon Season 2011 Episode 6 How to Mend a Broken Heart

In How to Mend a Broken Heart, the sixth episode of the 2011 season of the popular science program Horizon, viewers are taken on a journey into the fascinating world of cardiac regeneration. The episode explores the latest groundbreaking research in the field of cardiovascular medicine, which is shedding new light on the capacity of the human heart to repair itself.

At the heart of the program is the story of Claudia Castillo, a woman who suffered a heart attack at the age of 29. Claudia's heart was severely damaged by the attack, and her prognosis was grim. But then she heard about a cutting-edge treatment being trialled at London's Barts Hospital, which involved injecting stem cells into the damaged tissue of the heart in order to stimulate the growth of new cells and promote the repair of existing ones.

The program follows Claudia through the process of the stem cell therapy, which involves harvesting stem cells from her own bone marrow and injecting them into her heart via a catheter. Along the way, viewers learn about the fascinating science behind the treatment, including the way in which stem cells can differentiate into different types of heart cells and help to rebuild damaged tissues.

But stem cell therapy is just one of many approaches to cardiac regeneration that the program explores. Viewers also learn about the amazing capacity of the heart to repair itself naturally, thanks to the presence of specialized cells called cardiomyocytes. These cells have the ability to divide and regenerate, and recent research has shown that they can be stimulated to do so under certain conditions.

One of the scientists leading the charge in this area is Professor Bernardo Nadal-Ginard, who is based at Harvard Medical School. In the program, Nadal-Ginard explains how his team is working to find ways to boost the production of cardiomyocytes in the heart, in order to promote natural regeneration and repair. They are experimenting with a range of approaches, including the use of gene therapy to activate the growth of new cells.

The program also features other fascinating stories of cardiac repair, including:

- The case of a man who survived a heart attack thanks to a novel treatment that involved cooling his body to a very low temperature, which helped to protect his heart cells from damage. - The story of a woman who received a new heart valve made from her own cells, which eliminated the need for anti-rejection drugs and reduced the risk of complications. - The tale of a man who underwent a groundbreaking procedure to replace his damaged heart with a donor heart that had been stripped of all its cells, leaving behind only a "scaffold" that was then repopulated with the man's own cells. This approach holds great promise for the future of transplantation, as it eliminates the need for immunosuppressant drugs and reduces the risk of rejection.

Throughout the program, expert scientists and clinicians explain the science behind these various approaches to cardiac regeneration, and discuss the many challenges that still lie ahead. But the message of hope that runs throughout the episode is clear: the human heart has a remarkable ability to heal itself, and with the help of cutting-edge science, we may one day be able to harness this power to save countless lives.