News Health & Medicine

New heart attack treatment uses photosynthetic bacteria to make oxygen

Cyanobacteria lessened damage to rat hearts deprived of blood supply

photosynthetic bacteria

LIGHT HEARTED  When exposed to light, photosynthetic bacteria (green) make oxygen that can keep rat heart cells (red, shown here growing in a lab dish) alive after a heart attack.

J.E. Cohen et al/Science Advances 2017

By Tina Hesman Saey

- More than 2 years ago

Acting like miniature trees that soak up sunlight and release oxygen, photosynthetic bacteria injected into the heart may lighten the damage from heart attacks, a new study in rats suggests.