A study at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev found that semaglutide and colchicine reduced the propensity for atrial fibrillation by about 50% in a rat model of heart injury. Semaglutide also reduced scar tissue in the aorta to levels close to those measured in healthy animals.
A research group led by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev examined the ability of two well-known and approved drugs to reduce the tendency for atrial fibrillation in the heart. The study findings were published in the journal Europe, the leading journal of the European Heart Association in the field of arrhythmias and cardiac pacing.
Atrial fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia in humans and poses a significant therapeutic challenge. Patients with impaired cardiac function, for example after a heart attack accompanied by heart failure, are at particularly high risk of developing the arrhythmia. The onset of atrial fibrillation may significantly worsen the clinical condition of these patients.
Previous studies have shown that the atrial tissue in these patients undergoes various pathological changes, including increased inflammation and the development of tiny scars in the tissue. These changes increase the tendency for arrhythmia and make it more difficult to treat.
A new study conducted at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in collaboration with Soroka University Hospital and Assuta Hospital Ashdod examined the ability of two well-known and approved drugs to reduce the tendency for atrial fibrillation with cardiac damage. The treatment included both the drug semaglutide, which is currently widely used to treat diabetes and obesity and has also been attributed with anti-inflammatory effects, and the drug colchicine, a long-standing anti-inflammatory drug used mainly to treat gout attacks.
The research was conducted on rats that had undergone coronary artery ligation, a condition that simulates a heart attack. The animals received drug treatment for three weeks, starting one week after the cardiac injury. For the purpose of the study, the animals were implanted with a unique system developed in recent years in the laboratory of Prof. Yoram Etzion, from the Department of Physiology and Cell Biology and the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cells, at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.
Both drugs significantly reduced the tendency for atrial fibrillation.
The results of the study showed that both drugs significantly reduced the tendency for atrial fibrillation (an average decrease of about 50 percent), as well as reduced inflammatory processes in the atrial tissue. A particularly pronounced effect was observed in the semaglutide treatment group, which also reduced scarring in the atrial tissue to a level close to the baseline level in healthy animals. It is important to note that the positive effects of semaglutide were observed even though the study animals did not have diabetes or obesity, which are the drug's recognized indications.
"These findings raise the possibility that combining this type of drug in the treatment of patients with heart failure and atrial fibrillation may in the future reduce recurrent episodes of arrhythmia and the clinical worsening associated with them," he noted. Prof. Etzion.
The unique research system implanted in the research animals was developed in the laboratory of Prof. Yoram Etzion It includes a delicate silicone electrode that attaches tiny electrical poles to the atrial tissue of rats, and these allow long-term monitoring of the tendency to atrial fibrillation over a long period of time (many weeks) and without the use of anesthetics. This experimental system is unique not only in its ability to quantify the tendency to atrial fibrillation in non-anesthetized animals over time, but also in the high quality of the electrical recording obtained from the atrial tissue, which allows for precise and individual identification of the arrhythmias being tested (a feature that is not present in the standard systems used today).
In addition, a unique data processing system was used, developed in collaboration with Dr. Gideon Gradwell From the Medical Engineering Unit at the Academic Heart Center in Jerusalem, and allows for digital cleaning of the electrical signal and subsequent automatic/objective quantification of the propensity for atrial fibrillation.
The present study was conducted as part of the doctoral thesis of אור לוי, MD-PhD student, supervised by Prof. Yoram Etzion And with the participation of clinical cardiologists Dr. Gal Tsaban From the cardiology department at Soroka Medical Center, Prof. Avischag Leish-Fraksh, Director of the Electrophysiology and Pacemakers Unit at Assuta Medical Center Ashdod andDr. Yana Kakzanov From the Cardiology Department at Assuta Medical Center Ashdod. The analysis of the data from the heart tissue was done in collaboration with the research group of Prof. Bernard Attlee from the Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University.
This research was supported by the National Academy of Sciences, the Israeli Cardiological Association, and an intra-university grant for collaboration between Prof. Etzion's laboratory and the Cardiology Department at Assuta Medical Center in Ashdod.
Short FAQ
What did the study examine?
The study examined whether two approved drugs, semaglutide and colchicine, could reduce the tendency for atrial fibrillation after cardiac injury.
What did the study find?
Both drugs reduced the tendency to atrial fibrillation by an average of about 50% and reduced inflammatory processes in the atrial tissue.
What was special about Smaglutide?
Semaglutide also reduced scar tissue growth to near baseline levels in healthy animals, even though the study animals did not suffer from diabetes or obesity.
Is this already an approved treatment for atrial fibrillation?
No. The study was conducted in a rat model, so the findings indicate a promising research direction, but do not yet constitute a therapeutic recommendation for patients.
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