Podcast Episode Summary

Welcome, my name is Dr. Warrick Bishop. I'm a cardiologist, an author and a keynote speaker. I'm CEO of the Healthy Heart Network. I'm all about trying to help people live as well as possible for as long as possible. Heart disease is huge in Australia. Every 20 minutes someone suffers a heart attack. Most of these could probably have been avoided if only we knew what to do. This podcast is all about helping you understand blood pressure, weight, cholesterol for better health. If you enjoy this podcast, I would be honoured for a five-star review. You can share it with your family and friends. It may well save someone you love. Hi, my name is Warrick Bishop and welcome to my podcast and videocast station. I really do appreciate you taking the time to have a listen. Look, I have an interesting one for you today, one that came across. my desk and the title of the paper i'm looking at is why are scientists getting mice drunk well of course that is rather intriguing many of you will know of the situation when someone overdoses with opioids these are morphine codeine type drugs they are given a reversal agent called naloxone and that's done in accident and emergency when these people are critically influenced by these drugs in overdose. Now naloxone doesn't remove the opioid and naloxone doesn't cure opioid addiction. It simply allows some restoration of consciousness so that These people can be cared for without needing full-blown resuscitation. Anyway, this particular article about mice is talking about a shot of a liver hormone that may be given to significantly or dangerously drunk people that has come about as a result of experiments on mice. It turns out that there's a fibroblast growth factor. Number 21, in fact, FGF21, which is a liver-produced peptide hormone that can really be used in this sort of situation. It seems to have promising results in non-alcoholic fatty liver disease treatment. And scientists have also looked at its benefit and potential for weight loss and insulin control. In this particular study, they took severely drunk mice and injected them with fibroblast growth factor 21 and showed that this helped the mice regain their balance and alertness nearly twice as fast as those who didn't get the shot. The scientists say that the hormone stimulated the brain to release norepinephrine. We would know that in Australia. as adrenaline. This is a neurotransmitter that increases alertness. The paper was published in Cell Metabolism. It turns out that the liver, which metabolizes alcohol, also produces FGF21 or fibroblast growth factor 21 when it's stressed. And the hormone stimulates a region of the brain to release norepinephrine. Again, another hormone. This is part of the body's fight and flight response. And as that neurotransmitter in your brain helps increase alertness and attention, so it prepares you for fight and flight. In the study, the mice had been genetically modified not to produce norepinephrine in response to FGF21. And the experimenters demonstrated that These mice fed ethanol to knock them off the feet. Those who were given FGF21 were able to get back on their feet in an hour 40 compared to three hours 46. So this is a very clean study where they literally took the fibroblast growth factor effect on epinephrine or adrenaline out of the equation altogether and then introduced it cleanly. Well, very interesting sort of study and one that may well lead to something that we could see being given to dangerously intoxicated individuals in accident and emergency. Importantly, the article stresses that it's not a party drug. It won't sober you up ready to drive home, nor will it ease a hangover. Also interesting is that it seemed to only have an impact on alcohol as they had tried other sedatives like diazepam or valium. They'd tried barbiturates like phenobarbital and they'd even tried ketamine. So an interesting story where a liver produced hormone peptide may well be a solution for the severely... and intoxicated individuals to help them through that critical time. Another trial that I'll touch on, and I may have mentioned this before, but it's worth repeating, is one that was done and organised through Australia. Importantly, it looked at the sort of graft conduits that we use for coronary artery bypass grafting. We can use the artery on the inside of the chest wall. That's called the internal mammary artery. We often do that on the left hand side and that's called a left internal mammary artery or a lemur. We can also use the one on the right hand side and that's called the right internal mammary graft and we can also use the radial artery from the wrist. the arm and we can use vein grafts. Well there's a lovely study done in Australia which looked at what are the best conduits. Well number one without question was the left internal mammary artery but it turns out that the radial artery is probably second best and this is certainly important information and something that would come up as a conversation when someone who's due for surgery. catches up with their surgeon to make plans for the procedure. Very interesting. That was over a 10 to 15 year period and a nice reassurance of how we should be practicing going forward. Well, that's it. for today. I hope you found those little snippets on drunk mice and grafting interesting. If you have any queries or questions, drop us a note. If you've got any questions for particular topics, also let us know. That's it, info at drWarrickbishop.online. I'm going to wish you the very best. I hope you live as well as possible for as long as possible. Take care and bye for now. Join the Healthy Heart Network and become part of our growing community. If you're interested in your heart health and risk of heart attack, then join the Healthy Heart Network for only $5 as a lifetime member. This represents $55 worth of value. We offer and help people understand their present state of heart health, what their current level of risk is and the positive steps they can take. to improve their risk of heart attack in the future. Go to www.healthyheartnetwork.com.au and click the join the family button.