VNS Mitigates Neuronal and Myocyte Remodeling Following MI

After more than 40 years of studying the complexities of neural control of myocardial function, what are we learning now about how the intrinsic cardiac nervous system is dominated by intracardiac ganglia that both send and receive information from the heart? Editor in Chief Dr. Irving H. Zucker explores this and more in a new author interview with lead author Jeffrey Ardell (UCLA School of Medicine) and content expert David Mendelowitz (George Washington University) about the fascinating new work by Beaumont et al about vagal nerve stimulation and cardiac neuromodulation. What is the role of these intracardiac ganglia in the remodeling process of myocytes and the cardiac nervous system following myocardial ischemia? Did Ardell and colleagues find that vagal nerve stimulation could restore the central vagal drive and sustain contractile function in the case of chronic ischemia? Listen to find out.

Eric Beaumont, Elizabeth Marie Southerland, Jean C. Hardwick, Gary L Wright, Shannon Ryan, Ying Li, Bruce H. KenKnight, John Andrew Armour, Jeffrey Laurence Ardell Vagus nerve stimulation mitigates intrinsic cardiac neuronal and adverse myocyte remodeling post myocardial infarction Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol, published online August 14, 2015, DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00393.2015.