In a new study by Rolf Bodmer, Ph.D., director of the Development, Aging, and Regeneration Program at Sanford-Burnham, and Hui-Ying Lim, Ph.D., assistant member of the Free Radical Biology and Aging Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation as lead author, researchers report a previously unrecognized role for reactive oxygen species (ROS) in mediating normal heart function. The findings show how under normal physiological conditions, ROS produced in non-muscle heart cells act on nearby muscle cells to maintain normal cardiac function. The results provide vital insight on how ROS direct cell communications, and in addition to the heart, may be important for the function of other organs. Continue reading “The bright side of free radicals”