Heart Rhythm
Volume 7, Issue 7 , Pages 942-950 , July 2010

Epicardial neural ganglionated plexus of ovine heart: Anatomic basis for experimental cardiac electrophysiology and nerve protective cardiac surgery

  • Inga Saburkina, MD, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Anatomy, Kaunas University of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania
    • ,
  • Kristina Rysevaite

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Anatomy, Kaunas University of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania
    • ,
  • Neringa Pauziene, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Anatomy, Kaunas University of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania
    • ,
  • Karl Mischke, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Cardiology, Aachen University of Technology, Aachen, Germany
    • ,
  • Patrick Schauerte, MD

      Affiliations

    • Department of Cardiology, Aachen University of Technology, Aachen, Germany
    • ,
  • José Jalife, MD, FHRS

      Affiliations

    • Center for Arrhythmia Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
    • ,
  • Dainius H. Pauza, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Institute of Anatomy, Kaunas University of Medicine, Kaunas, Lithuania
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress reprint requests and correspondence: Dr. Dainius H. Pauza, Institute for Anatomy, Kaunas University of Medicine, A. Mickeviciaus Street 9, Kaunas LT-44307, Lithuania

Received 17 January 2010 ,Accepted 24 February 2010.

References 

  1. Gorman MW, Tune JD, Richmond KN, Feigl EO. Quantitative analysis of feedforward sympathetic coronary vasodilation in exercising dogs. J Appl Physiol. 2000;89:1903–1911
  2. Tsuboi M, Furukawa Y, Nakajima K, Kurogouchi F, Chiba S. Inotropic, chronotropic, and dromotropic effects mediated via parasympathetic ganglia in the dog heart. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2000;279:H1201–H1207
  3. Cifelli C, Rose RA, Zhang H, et al. RGS4 regulates parasympathetic signaling and heart rate control in the sinoatrial node. Circ Res. 2008;103:527–535
  4. Levy MN, Warner MR. Parasympathetic effects on cardiac function. In:  Armour JA,  Ardell JL editor. Neurocardiology. New York: Oxford University Press; 1994;p. 53–76
  5. Armour JA, Kember GC. Cardiac sensory neurons. In:  Armour JA,  Ardell JL editor. Basic and Clinical Neurocardiology. New York: Oxford University Press; 2004;p. 79–117
  6. Marron K, Wharton J, Sheppard MN, et al. Distribution, morphology, and neurochemistry of endocardial and epicardial nerve terminal arborizations in the human heart. Circulation. 1995;92:2343–2351
  7. Pauza DH, Skripka V, Pauziene N. Morphology of the intrinsic cardiac nervous system in the dog: a whole-mount study employing histochemical staining with acetylcholinesterase. Cells Tissues Organs. 2002;172:297–320
  8. Arora RC, Waldmann M, Hopkins DA, Armour JA. Porcine intrinsic cardiac ganglia. Anat Rec A Discov Mol Cell Evol Biol. 2003;271:249–258
  9. Batulevicius D, Skripka V, Pauziene N, Pauza DH. Topography of the porcine epicardial nerve plexus as revealed by histochemistry for acetylcholinesterase. Auton Neurosci. 2008;138:64–75
  10. Ardell JL, Randall WC. Selective vagal innervation of sinoatrial and atrioventricular nodes in canine heart. Am J Physiol. 1986;251:H764–H773
  11. Chiou CW, Eble JN, Zipes DP. Efferent vagal innervation of the canine atria and sinus and atrioventricular nodes (The third fat pad). Circulation. 1997;95:2573–2584
  12. Fee JD, Randall WC, Wurster RD, Ardell JL. Selective ganglionic blockade of vagal inputs to sinoatrial and/or atrioventricular regions. J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 1987;242:1006–1012
  13. Kamada S, Kawamura Y, Iida Y, Sato N, Hasebe N. An experimental study on the site dependency and mechanism of vagal denervation following radiofrequency catheter ablation for supraventricular arrhythmias including atrial fibrillation. Int Heart J. 2008;49:493–506
  14. Schauerte P, Mischke K, Plisiene J, et al. Catheter stimulation of cardiac parasympathetic nerves in humans: a novel approach to the cardiac autonomic nervous system. Circulation. 2001;104:2430–2435
  15. Gatti PJ, Johnson TA, McKenzie J, Lauenstein JM, Gray A, Massari VJ. Vagal control of left ventricular contractility is selectively mediated by a cranioventricular intracardiac ganglion in the cat. J Auton Nerv Syst. 1997;66:138–144
  16. Markovitz LJ, Savage EB, Ratcliffe MB, et al. Large animal model of left ventricular aneurysm. Ann Thorac Surg. 1989;48:838–845
  17. Jardine DL, Charles CJ, Melton IC, et al. Continual recordings of cardiac sympathetic nerve activity in conscious sheep. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol. 2002;282:H93–H99
  18. Bugge E, Nicholson IA, Thomas SP. Comparison of bipolar and unipolar radiofrequency ablation in an in vivo experimental model. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2005;28:76–80
  19. Addis A, Vanosi G, Manasse E, Mainetti M, Monaco A, Addis F. An experimental sheep model used to develop an ablation procedure for chronic atrial fibrillation. Surg Endosc. 2007;21:1626–1630
  20. Anne W, Willems R, Holemans P, et al. Self-terminating AF depends on electrical remodeling while persistent AF depends on additional structural changes in a rapid atrially paced sheep model. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2007;43:148–158
  21. Doll N, Aupperle H, Borger M, Czesla M, Mohr FW. [Efficacy and safety of various energy sources and application techniques for the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation]. Herzschrittmacherther Elektrophysiol. 2007;18:83–91
  22. Pruvot E, Jousset F, Ruchat P, et al. Propagation velocity kinetics and repolarization alternans in a free-behaving sheep model of pacing-induced atrial fibrillation. Europace. 2007;9(Suppl 6):vi83–vi88
  23. McKibben JS, Getty R. A comparative study of the cardiac innervation in domestic animals: sheep. Acta Anat (Basel). 1969;74:228–242
  24. Pauza DH, Skripka V, Pauziene N, Stropus R. Morphology, distribution, and variability of the epicardiac neural ganglionated subplexuses in the human heart. Anat Rec. 2000;259:353–382
  25. Karnovsky MJ, Roots L. A “direct-coloring” thiocholine method for cholinesterases. J Histochem Cytochem. 1964;12:219–221
  26. Koelle GB, Massoulie J, Eugene D, Melone MA, Boulla G. Distributions of molecular forms of acetylcholinesterase and butyrylcholinesterase in nervous tissue of the cat. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987;84:7749–7752
  27. Crick SJ, Sheppard MN, Ho SY, Anderson RH. Localisation and quantitation of autonomic innervation in the porcine heart I: conduction system. J Anat. 1999;195:341–357
  28. Janes RD, Brandys JC, Hopkins DA, Johnstone DE, Murphy DA, Armour JA. Anatomy of human extrinsic cardiac nerves and ganglia. Am J Cardiol. 1986;57:299–309
  29. Kawashima T. The autonomic nervous system of the human heart with special reference to its origin, course, and peripheral distribution. Anat Embryol (Berl). 2005;209:425–438
  30. Dickerson LW, Rodak DJ, Fleming TJ, et al. Parasympathetic neurons in the cranial medial ventricular fat pad on the dog heart selectively decrease ventricular contractility. J Auton Nerv Syst. 1998;70:129–141
  31. Pauza DH, Pauziene N, Tamasauskas KA, Stropus R. Hilum of the heart. Anat Rec. 1997;248:322–324
  32. Pauza DH, Pauziene N, Pakeltyte G, Stropus R. Comparative quantitative study of the intrinsic cardiac ganglia and neurons in the rat, guinea pig, dog and human as revealed by histochemical staining for acetylcholinesterase. Ann Anat. 2002;184:125–136
  33. Saburkina I, Pauza DH. Location and variability of epicardiac ganglia in human fetuses. Anat Embryol (Berl). 2006;211:585–594

 Supported by Grant PAR 18 from the Science Foundation of Kaunas University of Medicine and by National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institutes Grants P01-HL039707, P01-HL087226, and R01-HL080159 to Dr. Jalife.

PII: S1547-5271(10)00182-7

doi: 10.1016/j.hrthm.2010.02.036

Heart Rhythm
Volume 7, Issue 7 , Pages 942-950 , July 2010

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution