By studying the response rates of heart muscles, cardiac researchers at the Medical School have developed possible treatments which could reverse heart failure.

Associate professor of cellular and molecular physiology Judith K. Gwathmey and colleagues at the school's cardiovascular diseases laboratories attribute heart failure to decreased response to stimulation rather than to an impaired ability to contract, the previously accepted cause.

"We are pushing new ideas and dispelling previous myths," she said.

Heart muscle contracts when muscle filaments slide by each other, thereby shortening the muscle, and form cross-bridges to "lock" the filaments in place. Gwathmey reports in a recent issue of Circulation that a deficient heart possesses the same ability to contract as a normal muscle, but that the rate of forming cross-bridges is decreased.

Gwathmey said she hopes the results of her research will be used to combat the effects of heart disease. "The research is definitely cutting edge," she said.