Novel Approaches in Reversing Environmental Stress Initiated Pathological Processes to Accelerate Organ Repair—The Power of Small Molecules

Social and environmental stress impose a significant burden upon our everyday life which often accelerates through various inflammatory processes into severe pathological alterations of the body. Naturally, there are numerous repair mechanisms by which our systems respond to these insults, however, the outcomes are frequently limited. The heart is a vital organ, extremely sensitive to environmental stress-initiated processes displaying a limited capacity for self-renewal. Many approaches are currently utilized to restore its pathological alterations, which include application of progenitor cells, or recently, reprogramming of the locally available cells to functional cardiomyocytesCardiomyocytes with varying success. This comprehensive review delves into the diverse aspects of how environmental stress triggers pathological processes at the systemic, cellular and molecular levels, especially in the heart. Our research and others revealed secreted small moleculesSmall molecule may serve as powerful tools to successfully track developing pathologies and to aid reparatory processes which may ultimately result in improvement of altered function and thus, accelerate the quality of life.