According to the findings of a new rat study, a molecule that helps the body overcome alcohol was successful in reducing damage for the duration of a heart attack, and an experimental drug can turn on this protective function, Reuters reported.

The molecule was given the name Alda-1 due to the fact that it activates an enzyme called aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2), best known up till now for being a factor in processing the alcohol in the body.

The research, which has been published in the Sept. 12 issue of the journal Science, involved the screening of scores of compounds in order to find one that would expand the activity of the enzyme. The team of researchers asked for the help of Thomas D. Hurley, Ph.D., professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Indiana University, as "he has spent his career on this enzyme, he knows a lot about the structure of the enzyme and how it works," Mochly-Rosen stated.

Researchers led by Daria Mochly-Rosen, a professor of chemical and systems biology at Stanford University Medical Center in California, found more elevated levels of the ALDH2 enzyme in rats resistant to heart muscle damage triggered by a deficiency of oxygen.

The study has been done to a great extent in Japan and China, The Washington Post wrote on its Web site, because an estimated 40% of Asian people carry a variant form of the gene that makes a moderately inactive enzyme. "It gives rise to a number of susceptibilities, including intolerance to ethanol, beverage alcohol," Hurley asserted.