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Crucial part of nervous system linked to increased risk of death from heart failure

April 09, 2017

Dr Pickering, Wellcome Senior Clinical Research Fellow, Reader in Neuroscience and Consultant in Anaesthesia in the University of Bristol's School of Physiology and Pharmacology, said: "These findings are important because they clearly show the cardiac ganglion as a key player in determining the level of vagal tone reaching the heart.

"As loss of vagal tone is found in a number of cardiovascular diseases such as heart failure, following heart attack, in high blood pressure and diabetes, and is associated with poor prognosis and an increased risk of death, our results indicate that therapies targeted at the cardiac ganglion could restore vagal tone and potentially improve outcomes."

Helene Wilson, Research Advisor at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said: "The vagus nerves are absolutely vital for the control of the speed and regularity of our heart's beat. We don't know a great deal about how the vagus nerves exert this control, and researchers have found it very hard to study it - partly because of the motion of the heart as it beats. These researchers have now developed a technique to study the processes in an intact vagus nerve which is still attached to heart, and have already helped us understand the process better. New insights into how the vagus nerves transmit their effects on the heart could lead to important new ways to treat patients with diseases such as heart failure, arrhythmias and hypertension."

Source: University of Bristol