BH4 shows promise against heart failure

Millions of U.S. residents suffer from heart failure, which is the heart's inability to pump effectively and meet the body's blood and oxygen needs.

Systolic heart failure occurs when the heart no longer can contract effectively, while diastolic heart failure occurs when the heart can't relax after contractions.

"Although we have a number of treatments for systolic heart failure, there are no approved treatments at all for diastolic heart failure, a deadly disease with a 60 percent mortality rate five years after diagnosis," said Dr. Samuel Dudley, a professor of medicine at the University of Illinois, Chicago.

A chemical compound found normally in the blood, tetrahydrobiopterin, or BH4, shows promise in helping tissues create nitric oxide necessary for blood vessels to relax, Dudley said in the February issue of Circulation.

BH4 given to mice prevented diastolic heart failure from developing and restored function to hearts where diastolic heart failure had been a problem, he said.

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