A new study conducted by researchers from University of Bristol and University College London shows that weight-loss drugs mimicking GLP‑1 can help protect the heart after a heart attack.

The results were published in Nature Communications.

These medications, already known for reducing the risk of serious heart problems regardless of a patient’s weight or comorbidities, have now demonstrated potential to prevent further heart tissue damage, lowering the risk of life-threatening complications that occur in nearly half of heart attack patients.

The key mechanism involves so-called pericytes — tiny contractile cells that constrict coronary capillaries when the heart muscle experiences low oxygen. This can lead to a “no-reflow” complication, where, despite reopening the main artery, blood does not reach certain areas of the heart, increasing the risk of death or hospitalization for heart failure within a year after the heart attack.

In the new animal study, researchers showed that GLP‑1 drugs activate potassium channels, relaxing pericytes. This widens constricted capillaries and improves blood flow, reducing the likelihood of further heart muscle damage.

Lead author Dr. Svetlana Mastitskaya noted that nearly half of heart attack patients have persistently narrowed small vessels, and GLP‑1’s ability to prevent this effect opens new therapeutic possibilities.

Professor David Attwell, co-author of the study, emphasized that with the growing use of GLP‑1 drugs for treating type 2 diabetes, obesity, and kidney disease, these already existing medications could be repurposed to protect the heart after a heart attack, potentially saving lives.