Parasympathetic vagal control of cardiac function

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1-1-2016

Journal

Current Hypertension Reports

Volume

18

Issue

3

DOI

10.1007/s11906-016-0630-0

Keywords

Cardiac function; Cardiac vagal neurons; Neuropeptides; Parasympathetic activity; Vagal nerve stimulation

Abstract

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016. This brief review focuses on four new topics, with novel and clinically significant consequences, concerning the powerful influence of parasympathetic activity on cardiac function. In this short summary, we will highlight very recent and important work, published in the last 3–4 years, that (1) challenges the paradigm that parasympathetic activity to the heart is involved in the control of heart rate but plays little role in other cardiac functions, (2) characterizes important longrange synaptic pathways to parasympathetic cardiac vagal neurons that are involved in “higher” brain functions (such as arousal and emotional challenges), (3) asks whether implantable chronic vagal nerve stimulation is a promising clinical tool for treating cardiovascular diseases, and (4) describes newly identified neuropeptides and other modulators that can influence the generation and maintenance of parasympathetic activity to the heart.

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