According to researchers, it’s the genetically modified mouse that really gets the cheese.

Scientists at Western’s Robarts Research Institute, working in collaboration with researchers in Brazil, have used genetically-modified mice to help unveil a new mechanism contributing to heart failure.

“Lots of people have studied the system that increases the heart rate and that has been the hallmark; we know there’s an increase in the sympathetic nervous system in people who have heart failure,” explained Robert Gros, assistant professor in the departments of physiology and pharmacology and medicine at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, in a press release.

“What we’re now showing with this mouse model is that even if you have a functional sympathetic nervous system, if the other system — the parasympathetic system — is dysfunctional or works less optimally than normal, you still end up with a sick heart. This opens up a whole new avenue that people have missed in the past.”

The Heart and Stroke Foundation and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research supported the study.

According to the foundation’s website, heart failure affects close to half a million Canadians.

—Meagan Kashty