Blood clots study offers therapeutic hope

There could be better treatments for heart disease, stroke and vascular dementia after scientists have discovered new ways for the body to regulate blood clots.

Scientists have developed a new technique that allows them to simultaneously measure blood clotting and free radical formation.

Free radicals are unstable molecules containing unpaired single electrons that seek to pair.

This makes these molecules very reactive and able to modify proteins, lipids and DNA.

Among other undesirable effects, free radicals play a role in the formation of blood clots, which in turn are considered a determining factor in the development of a range of diseases, including heart disease, stroke, dementia and inflammatory conditions such as arthritis.

The research, led by the University of Exeter and funded by the British Heart Foundation, uses a technique combining electronic paramagnetic resonance and aggregometry of blood cells.

The team has successfully used this technique in mice and in human cells.

The researchers aim to better understand how blood cells work, which will help develop new drugs for blood clotting diseases or test the risk of clotting diseases in patients.

Dr. Giordano Pula, head of the study, said: "We are really excited to discover this new technique and its potential to understand the development of blood vessel diseases.

"For the first time, we can now measure the coagulation of blood and the formation of free radicals simultaneously.

"We know that they play a key role in the damage to blood vessels caused by aging, diabetes, obesity and chronic inflammation.

"We are currently using this technique in our efforts to develop a new treatment to protect blood vessels in diseases such as heart disease, stroke, obesity and vascular dementia."

Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation, said, "With funding from BHF, Dr. Pula has developed an improved method to study part of the blood clotting process, which puts the blood into the blood. focus on how platelets from blood samples agglutinate.

"This method could be useful for future studies of new antiplatelet therapies for diseases such as diabetes, where clotting is disrupted and increases the risk of heart attack or stroke."

The study is published in the scientific journal Haematologica.