From Mice to Mainframes: Experimental Models for Investigation of the Intracardiac Nervous System

The intracardiac nervous system (IcNS), sometimes referred to as the "little brain" of the heart, is involved in modulating many aspects of cardiac physiology. In recent years our fundamental understanding of autonomic control of the heart has drastically improved, and the IcNS is increasi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of cardiovascular development and disease 2021-11, Vol.8 (11), p.149
Main Authors: Stoyek, Matthew R, Hortells, Luis, Quinn, T Alexander
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cardiac function
cell culture
Coronary vessels
Fibroblasts
Heart
mammal
Nervous system
neurocardiology
Neurons
parasympathetic
Review
Signal processing
Spinal cord
sympathetic
zebrafish
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Summary:The intracardiac nervous system (IcNS), sometimes referred to as the "little brain" of the heart, is involved in modulating many aspects of cardiac physiology. In recent years our fundamental understanding of autonomic control of the heart has drastically improved, and the IcNS is increasingly being viewed as a therapeutic target in cardiovascular disease. However, investigations of the physiology and specific roles of intracardiac neurons within the neural circuitry mediating cardiac control has been hampered by an incomplete knowledge of the anatomical organisation of the IcNS. A more thorough understanding of the IcNS is hoped to promote the development of new, highly targeted therapies to modulate IcNS activity in cardiovascular disease. In this paper, we first provide an overview of IcNS anatomy and function derived from experiments in mammals. We then provide descriptions of alternate experimental models for investigation of the IcNS, focusing on a non-mammalian model (zebrafish), neuron-cardiomyocyte co-cultures, and computational models to demonstrate how the similarity of the relevant processes in each model can help to further our understanding of the IcNS in health and disease.
ISSN:2308-3425
2308-3425
DOI:10.3390/jcdd8110149