The Neurolinguistics of the Heart
Neuronal connectivity is dependent on size and shape of the dendritic arbor. However, mechanisms controlling dendritic arborization, especially in the peripheral nervous system, are not completely understood. Previous studies have shown that bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are important initiators of dendritic growth in peripheral neurons. In th...
Published in Arquivos brasileiros de cardiologia
Myocardial ischemia evokes powerful reflex responses through activation of vagal and sympathetic afferents in the heart through the release of ischemic metabolites. We have demonstrated that extracellular ATP stimulates cardiac sympathetic afferents through P2 receptor-mediated mechanism, and that opioid peptides suppress these afferents activity. ...
Published in Cellular and molecular gastroenterology and hepatology
Colonic musculature contain smooth muscle cells (SMC), interstitial cells of Cajal (ICC), and platelet-derived growth factor receptor α+ cells (PDGFRα+ cells), which are electrically coupled and operate together as the SIP syncytium. PDGFRα+ cells have enriched expression of small conductance Ca2+-activated K+ (SK) channels. Purinergic enteric neur...
Myocardial infarction (MI) can result in sympathetic nerve loss in the infarct region. However, the contribution of hypo-innervation to electrophysiological remodeling, independent from MI-induced ischemia and fibrosis, has not been comprehensively investigated. We present a novel mouse model of regional cardiac sympathetic hypo-innervation utilizi...
Canine diabetes mellitus (DM) affects 0.6% of the canine population and yet, its etiology is poorly understood. Most affected dogs are diagnosed as adults and are insulin-dependent. We compared pan-leukocyte and sympathetic innervation markers in pancreatic islets of adult dogs with spontaneous DM (sDM), spontaneous pancreatitis (sPanc), both (sDMP...
OBJECTIVE: Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) are used as anti-diabetic drugs and are approved for obesity treatment. However, GLP-1RAs also affect heart rate (HR) and arterial blood pressure (ABP) in rodents and humans. Although the activation of GLP-1 receptors (GLP-1R) is known to increase HR, the circuits recruited are unclear...
Electronic cigarettes (ECs) and tobacco cigarettes (TCs) both release nicotine, a sympathomimetic drug. We hypothesized that baseline heart rate variability (HRV) and hemodynamics would be similar in chronic EC and TC smokers and that after acute EC use, changes in HRV and hemodynamics would be attributable to nicotine, not non-nicotine, constituen...
Published in Hypertension (Dallas, Tex. : 1979)
Renal sympathetic denervation, a potentially revolutionary interventional treatment for hypertension, faces an existential problem due to the inability to confirm successful ablation of the targeted renal sympathetic nerves. Based on the observation that renal sympathetic nerve activity exerts rhythmic, baroreflex-driven, and vasoconstrictive contr...