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Heart attack sufferers could be offered help from a very unexpected source - bear bile.

A synthesised compound also found in the digestive fluid is already used to reduce cholesterol production and dissolve gallstones.

Now scientists from Imperial College London believe ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) could also help prevent abnormal heart rhythms.

A compound naturally found in bear bile - ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) - could help prevent heart attack sufferers having to endure abnormal heart rhythms

The substance is often used in traditional Chinese medicines - but the way it is collected from bears has been criticised as cruel.

Dr Jill Robinson MBE, Founder and CEO, Animals Asia Across Asia said: 'An estimated 14,000 bears are being kept in tiny cages, starved and dehydrated, and milked for their bile.'

Laboratory tests have revealed that synthesised UDCA is just as effective.

The chemical works on non-beating heart cells called myofibroblasts.

These cells can interfere with how electrical signals travel across the heart in both foetuses and people who have had heart attacks, causing dangerous abnormal heart rhythms.

However, the compound prevents this happening by altering the electrical properties of the cells.

One in 200 pregnant women are treated with UDCA to treat the bile condition obstetric cholestasis

Study leader Dr Julia Gorelik, from the National Heart and Lung Institute, said: 'These findings are exciting because the treatments we have now are largely ineffective at preventing arrhythmia in patients who develop an abnormal heart rhythm after a heart attack.

'Our results from the lab suggest that UDCA could help the heart muscle conduct electrical signals more normally.

'We're hoping to set up a clinical trial to test whether these results translate to patients with heart failure.'

The compound is already used to treat a condition called obstetric cholestasis, which affects around one in 200 pregnant women in the UK and is linked to a higher risk of arrhythmia and sudden death in the foetus.

UDCA lowers the levels of harmful bile acids which build up in the mother's blood in the disease and can pass into the infant through the placenta.

Co-author Professor Catherine Williamson from the Institute of Reproductive and Developmental Biology, said: 'Our study suggests that it is the appearance of myofibroblast cells that make the foetus vulnerable to arrhythmia in obstetric cholestasis.

'We think that targeting these cells could be an important new approach for preventing abnormal heart rhythm, not just in the foetus, but also in people who have had a heart attack.'

The study appears in the journal Hepatology.

Bear bile is often used in traditional Chinese medicines - but the way it is collected has been criticised as cruel. However, laboratory tests revealed that synthesised UDCA is just as effectivewww.dailymail.co.uk