A research carried out at Chicago University reveals that cigarette smoking can reshape the left ventricle of heart with heightening a stress hormone. The research was carried out on rats as animal model. After a five-week's experiment, the researchers reached onto the conclusion that smoking was associated with the activation of enzymes called Mitogen.

 

Evidently, Mitogen helps activating protein kinases that govern cell growth and survival in heart muscle. The leading researcher Mariann Piano, (professor-the CUI College of Nursing) said that cigarette smoke contains more than 4,000 different chemicals, one of which is nicotine that activates Mitogen enzyme. Piano opines that it may cause cigarette smoke-induced heart injury.

 

The research paper would be published in the November issue of the European Journal of Heart Failure. Cigarette has always been assumed to be hurtful for heart and new research just proves the same. Prof. Piano, however, confides that the effect of nicotine on the initiation and progression of cigarette smoke-mediated cardiovascular events are still controversial.