Macrophages conduct electricity to help the heartbeat

myocardial cells are in large numbers of macrophages.
immune cells called macrophages, which eat microbial invaders and bio-waste like "bean eaters," have another previously undetected effect: helping mammalian hearts beat regularly. A team of researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital has determined that macrophages help conduct electrical signals that coordinate heartbeats. The paper was published recently in
Journal.
a new type of cell is associated with heart conduction," said Matthew Nahrendorf, a systems biologist at the hospital and lead author of the study. "The macrophages are present in the tissues of the whole body. Nahrendorf's research aims to explore the potential role of macrophages in transmitting and coordinating electrical signals that stimulate myocardial contraction.
the researchers removed macrophages from the mouse model, electroenculation and cardiac MRI results showed that the mice's heart rate slowed. In healthy mice, the heart chamber is richer with macrophages, which can pass electrical charges from the agency to the chamber.
, Nahrendorf presented the results to colleagues David Milan and Patrick Ellinor, electrophysiologists, and began working together. It was found that macrophages were connected to heart muscle cells through gaps (a porous structure that coordinates heart muscle contraction) and by repairing the electrical conduction of heart cells, which directs cells to contract at a faster rate.
when we got the first data on macrophages and heartbeats, I realized that it wasn't isolation, it was guiding the heartbeat," he says. Nahrendorf said, "This study is very exciting because it is a model of interdisciplinary research, immunology and electrophysiology are traditionally separate fields. The
next step, the study will also explore whether macrophages also cause abnormal conduction. There is also a potential link between macrophages and anti-inflammatory drugs, which have been widely reported as helping to treat heart disease. If macrophages also play a role in heart disease, the researchers say, they could help bring new treatments.