Zebrafish heart as a model to study the integrative autonomic control of pacemaker function.

ABSTRACT: The cardiac pacemaker sets the heart's primary rate, with pacemaker discharge controlled by the autonomic nervous system through intracardiac ganglia. A fundamental issue in understanding the relationship between neural activity and cardiac chronotropy is the identification of neuronal populations that control pacemaker cells. To date, most studies of neurocardiac control have been done in mammalian species, where neurons are embedded in and distributed throughout the heart, so they are largely inaccessible for whole-organ, integrative studies. Here, we establish the isolated, innervated zebrafish heart as a novel alternative model for studies of autonomic control of heart rate. Stimulation of individual cardiac vagosympathetic nerve trunks evoked bradycardia (parasympathetic activation) a

SUBMITTER: Stoyek MR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5142188 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature