The mystery of Da Vinci's human heart, which scientists managed to uncover only after 500 years

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Leonardo da Vinci was born in Tuscany in 1452. He is known to us as one of the greatest artists in history. His most famous works of art are The Last Supper and Mona Lisa. But Leonardo was much more than a painter. One of his most important discoveries is the study of the work of the human heart.

Leonardo da Vinci kept numerous notebooks filled with his scientific theories, inventions, drawings and developments. Interestingly, Leonardo wrote from right to left. Therefore, his letter can be read normally only if you look in the mirror. More than 4000 pages of his scientific knowledge have been found.

Anatomical research of Leonardo

The Italian artist, architect and engineer was certainly a curious and gifted person, well ahead of his time, but what sparked his interest in the workings of the human body? Leonardo's research on human organs attracted his lifelong interest.

When Leonardo da Vinci was born, much of the knowledge about the heart in Europe came from the work of Aristotle and Galen, who held opposing views. Not only was the physical structure of the heart perceived as completely far from the true representation (some said that it was a three-chambered organ), the heart at that time played more of a spiritual role. It was believed to preserve life and carry human virtue or spirit. Da Vinci participated in many dissections of the human body when he studied at the workshop of Andrea del Verrocchio. His early works focused on depictions of human figures (initially they carried more artistic value than scientific value). But gradually his interest in anatomy grew and turned into an independent field of research.

His diagrams and sketches of the skull, skeleton, muscles and major organs make up countless pages of writing. Even more space in his personal diaries is occupied by theories about how all these human organs function.

The heart in Leonardo's research

With all this, it was the heart that attracted his attention especially since 1507, when he turned 50. The heart fascinated him. Leonardo called it the invenzionato dal sommo maestro (wonderful instrument invented by the Supreme Creator). In sketches about the heart, he described his knowledge of fluids, weights, levers, and the technique of working this organ. He also closely studied the work of the heart valves and blood circulation.

Many of Leonardo's drawings were based on studies of the hearts of a bull and a pig. And only at a later age did he have the opportunity to get human organs into work. When Leonardo da Vinci opened the heart of a recently deceased 100-year-old man, he was able to produce the first ever description of coronary artery disease. Today, more than 500 years later, coronary heart disease is one of the most common causes of death in the Western world.

The results of da Vinci's research on the heart

Modern autopsies show that he was correct in many aspects of his functioning. For example, he showed that the heart is a muscle that does not warm the blood. Leonardo's findings that arterial valves close and open, allowing blood to flow around the heart, are still valid today but are not widely known. In addition, he found that the heart has four chambers and links the pulse at the wrist to the contraction of the left ventricle. Da Vinci found that the blood flow created in the main aortic artery helps the heart valves close. Heart surgery has certainly changed over the last century, but Leonardo's ideas could have made a huge difference if they had been publicized and researched earlier.

Opening 2020

In 2020, scientists managed to uncover the secret of the human heart of Leonardo da Vinci. Over the years, they have tried to figure out the function of the mysterious heart structures, first described by da Vinci in his diaries. It turned out that a network of muscle fibers called trabeculae lines the inner surface of the heart and, as shown in its drawings, affects the favorable functioning of the heart.

The grid, showing characteristic fractal patterns resembling snowflakes, was originally described by Leonardo da Vinci in the 16th century. To understand what these networks are doing, an international team of researchers used artificial intelligence to analyze 25,000 magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images of the heart. air. They also found that there are six regions in human DNA that determine how fractal patterns (trabeculae) are formed. Another important finding is that the shape of trabeculae affects the work of the heart. Analysis of data from 50,000 patients showed that different fractal structures can influence the risk of heart failure. Interestingly, people with more branches of trabeculae have a lower risk of heart failure.

Leonardo da Vinci drew these complex muscles inside the heart 500 years ago, and only now are we beginning to understand how important they are to human health. Leonardo's unquestionable legacy is that we must follow the example of the Renaissance man and continue to challenge, question and explore the unknown, rather than listen to conventional wisdom.