Neuroscience in the heart: recent advances in neurocardiac communication and its role in cardiac arrhythmias.


Author: Winbo A1, Ashton JL2, Montgomery JM3

Affiliation: <sup>1</sup>Department of Physiology and Manaaki Mānawa Centre for Heart Research, University of Auckland, New Zealand; Auckland District Health Board, Auckland, New Zealand.

<sup>2</sup>Department of Physiology and Manaaki Mānawa Centre for Heart Research, University of Auckland, New Zealand.

<sup>3</sup>Department of Physiology and Manaaki Mānawa Centre for Heart Research, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address: jm.montgomery@auckland.ac.nz.
Conference/Journal: Int J Biochem Cell Biol.
Date published: 2020 Mar 6
Other:
 Volume ID: 105737   ,  Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.biocel.2020.105737. [Epub ahead of print]   ,  Word Count: 133  
    Autonomic nervous system dysregulation is involved in the pathophysiology of multiple cardiac arrhythmias, and therefore modulating sympathetic or parasympathetic input to the heart provides novel therapeutic options for arrhythmia management. Examples include decreasing intrinsic cardiac neuron communication, patterned vagal nerve stimulation, denervation, and blockade of post-ganglionic neurons. However, lessons from ventricular arrhythmias, where increased sympathetic activity and vagal rebound activity both amplify arrhythmia risk, stress the importance of understanding the regulatory mechanisms that modulate the balance and levels of sympathetic and parasympathetic activity. Of critical need is an increased understanding of plasticity mechanisms in the autonomic nervous system, to a level similar to what is known in the central nervous system, in order to develop safe and effective neuromodulatory therapies.



Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Ltd.



KEYWORDS: arrhythmia; innervation; neuromodulation



PMID: 32151724  DOI: 10.1016/j.biocel.2020.105737