The team performed tests on mice, with extremely promising results.

During a heart attack, the tissue of the vital organ is often badly damaged, and it has little innate ability to repair itself. Instead, it compensates by growing large and flabby, which can lead to congestive heart failure, which in turn is currently responsible for one in nine deaths in the United States.

To combat the pressing issue, the TUSM team turned to exosomes – tiny sacks secreted by cells that act as messengers, allowing different cells in the body to communicate. While these extracellular vesicles are secreted by nearly all types of cell, the researchers believed that exosomes from stem cells, which have the unique ability to grow into any type of cell in the human body, might well be a useful tool in mitigating damage caused by heart attacks.