FAMED for improving people’s sex lives by stimulating blood flow where it matters, Viagra also appears to protect the hearts of mice from the effects of a wasting condition.
Viagra is known to inhibit the breakdown of cyclic GMP, an enzyme that not only dilates the blood vessels in the penis but is also involved in the signalling pathways that keep the heart healthy. This led Christine Des Rosiers at the Montreal Heart Institute in Canada and colleagues to wonder whether the drug could help prevent degeneration of heart muscle, which is what kills increasing numbers of people born with …
