Molecularly defined circuits for cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary control.

ABSTRACT: The sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems regulate the activities of internal organs¹, but the molecular and functional diversity of their constituent neurons and circuits remains largely unknown. Here we use retrograde neuronal tracing, single-cell RNA sequencing, optogenetics and physiological experiments to dissect the cardiac parasympathetic control circuit in mice. We show that cardiac-innervating neurons in the brainstem nucleus ambiguus (Amb) are comprised of two molecularly, anatomically and functionally distinct subtypes. The first, which we call ambiguus cardiovascular (ACV) neurons (approximately 35 neurons per Amb), define the classical cardiac parasympathetic circuit. They selectively innervate a subset of cardiac parasympathetic ganglion neurons and media

SUBMITTER: Veerakumar A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9297035 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature