Spinach nanoparticles help failing rat hearts via 'borrowed photosynthesis'
A spinach leaf can turn light into chemical energy.
A spinach leaf can turn light into chemical energy.
The short version
- Researchers in China have brought part of the leaf's energy-making machinery into rat heart cells to test whether borrowed photosynthesis could help an overworked heart.
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What happened
Their spinach-derived nanoparticles, when combined with red light, improved pumping function and reduced tissue damage in rats with experimentally induced heart failure. The team, led by researchers at Union Hospital of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, reports the findings in the journal Small .
Why it matters
The findings suggest a possible new way to tackle heart failure's underlying energy deficit.
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