A Breakthrough in Heart Disease
Summary
In this video, Louis J Ignore, a scientist that has gotten a noble prize for discovering the effects of Nitric Oxide. In the first half of the video, there is an interview with the scientist about the Nobel prize ceremony and his place in the ceremony. Several interesting facts are discussed, such as how he got the prize and gave his lecture to how he signed his name in a book full of people who got the Nobel prize like he did and signed that book.
In the second part of the video, the scientist explains the role that Nitric Oxide has in lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease as well as hypertension and high cholesterol. He explains the role of L-Arginine and L-Cetruline, two amino acids in the body and how it aids the process of making the Nitric Acid that lowers the risk for cardiovascular disease.
He first goes into the coronary artery and how it works. He explains that the coronary artery brings blood and nutrients to the heart and gradually over time, plaque starts to accumulate in the artery. This plaque grows to the point that it obstructs blood flow to the heart and that part of the heart, malnourished and oxygen deprived, dies. When the heart is needed to pump blood around the body, it doesn't work and just sends pain signals to the brain. This is where Nitric Acid comes into play. Nitric Acid is a hormone that functions as the body's defense against cardiovascular disease. It lowers blood pressure and increases blood flow throughout the body by relaxing arteries in the body. This is the body's natural way to battle heart attacks and cardiovascular diseases caused by plaque buildup.
Cardiovascular Disease is the number one cause of death in the USA and many other nations, and according to the doctor in the video, when nitric acid is lacking, the heart starts to die due to lack of blood flow. Argenine is an amino acid that assists in the production of nitric oxide. If we increase the consumption of this amino acid, our body can battle cardiovascular disease better. Mr. Ignarro believes that if humans consume more Nitric Acid, then we can start to prevent cardiovascular disease in the US.
Relevance
In class we learned about cardiovascular disease and how it affects homeostasis in the body by cutting off blood flow to the heart and essentially killing the heart. We learnt about how arteriosclerosis in the body is caused by plaque buildups and block blood flow. All of the items mentioned above have been learned in biology class.
Information
Date Published: March 1, 2013
Posted By: Robert Bonan
I could imagine that something that relaxes the arteries could, in excess, be detrimental to health. What do you think effects would be after excessive relaxation of the arteries? Physically, what might we see?
ReplyDelete