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Asked by andrewmoth to Philip, Chris, Eva, Michael, Paddy on 16 Jun 2011. This question was also asked by sufmed.
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Philip Denniff answered on 15 Jun 2011:
The heart is a mussel and like all mussels requires oxygen to work. The oxygen is carried in the blood. If the heart or any other mussel or organ in the body fails to get a supply of oxygen when it requires it, the cells start to die off. A heart attack is when the heart fails to receive the amount of oxygen it requires usually due to a blockage of the arteries. If the blockage occurs in an artery of the brain you suffer a stroke. So heart attacks and strokes can have the same cause.
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Michael Wharmby answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Nice answer Phil. The cause of the blockage might be a blood clot from somewhere travelling through the blood stream and blocking an artery around the heart – this can happen if you sit really still for too long like on a long haul flight (so called Deep Vein Thrombosis – correct me if I’m wrong). Other things like eating fatty foods can also cause build-ups of things in the arteries that can cause blockages.
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Paddy Brock answered on 16 Jun 2011:
It’s interesting to think about exactly what “cause” means in the case of a heart attack. As Phil says, the direct cause of heart attack is lack of oxygen in the heart muscles due to a blood vessel blockage. However, there are lots of factors that can increase the probability or the risk of this happening. Probability and risk are super-important when it comes to understanding cause and effect in biology. So, if you eat lots of fatty foods and smoke, your blood vessels get narrower, and the chance that a blockage builds up is higher, so they count as risk-factors for heart-attacks.
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Eva Bachmair answered on 16 Jun 2011:
Yes to all the answers so far. And welcome to my research area. My group and many others are working on human platelets, small cells which are also important for blood clotting (that’s good) and vessel clogging (that’s bad). As platelets are involved in both processes, they are an interesting area of research. And, some drugs that are prescribed by GPs to reduce the risk of a heart attack inhibit those platelets or rather keep them in check so that they are not overexcited. Aspirin is the best example.
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