Viagra may do more than provide a boost in the bedroom. New research suggests that it may also increase the effects of a heart-protective protein.
Researchers have found that sildenafil, or Viagra, improves the action of a protein called RGS2, which has been identified as having a key role in protecting against heart failure.
For their study, the researchers first established the importance of RGS2 in protecting against heart failure.
They found that the hearts of mice who were engineered to lack the RGS2 protein expanded in weight by as much as 90 per cent after only a week of suffering from induced high blood pressure.
Almost half of those mice died of heart failure.
However, the hearts of mice who did produce the protein only expanded by about 30 per cent after a week of suffering from blood pressure, and none of those mice died.
In a second phase of the study, the researchers gave Viagra to the mice with RGS2 and found that these mice had greater protection against heart expansion, known as hypertophy. As well, the hearts of these mice had stronger contractions and produced significantly fewer stress-related enzymes compared to untreated mice.
Viagra had no effect on mice that lacked RGS2.
"Sildenafil clearly prolongs the protective effects of RGS2 in mouse hearts," Dr. David Kass, senior study investigator and cardiologist, said in a statement.
The findings are published in the online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
The study supports earlier research that has shown Viagra to improve heart function, which means the drug may one day be prescribed to treat or prevent damage to the heart caused by chronic high blood pressure.
