ArticleHeart rhythm2014
Sympathetic nerve fibers in human cervical and thoracic vagus nerves.
Article in Heart rhythm, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 67 papers.
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Who cites it
67 citing papers in PubMed, 127 citations in OpenAlex.
- Vagus nerve stimulation modulates LPS-induced epileptogenicity: the role of inflammation suppression.Research square · 2026Article
- The human vagal complex: from gross anatomy to single neurons, from brainstem to abdomen.Research square · 2025Article
- Review
- Tyrosine Hydroxylase-Expressing Neurons in the Vagal Ganglia: Characterization and Implications.Biomedicines · 2025Article
- Scaling of vagus nerve stimulation parameters does not achieve equivalent nerve responses across species.Bioelectronic medicine · 2025Article
- The physiology, anatomy and stimulation of the vagus nerve in epilepsy.The Journal of physiology · 2025Review
- Transcutaneous Vagus Nerve Stimulation Enhances Probabilistic Learning.Psychophysiology · 2025Article
- Clinical neurocardiology: defining the value of neuroscience-based cardiovascular therapeutics - 2024 update.The Journal of physiology · 2025Review
- Effects of Chinese cervical fixed-point rotation manipulation on heart rate variability in patients with sympathetic cervical spondylosis based on the theory of biomechanical equilibrium: a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Article
- Laterality, sexual dimorphism, and human vagal projectome heterogeneity shape neuromodulation to vagus nerve stimulation.Communications biology · 2024Article
- Non-invasive Neuromodulation of Arrhythmias.Cardiac electrophysiology clinics · 2024Review
- Analgesic Effect of Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Oxaliplatin-induced Peripheral Neuropathic Pain in a Rodent Model.Experimental neurobiology · 2024Article
- Can a Sacrococcygeal Epidural of 0.25% Bupivacaine Prevent the Activation of the Sympathetic Nervous System during Feline Ovariectomy?Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024Article
- The differences in the anatomy of the thoracolumbar and sacral autonomic outflow are quantitative.Clinical autonomic research : official journal of the Clinical Autonomic Research Society · 2024Review
- Desensitizing the autonomic nervous system to mitigate anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody side effects.Frontiers in oncology · 2024Article
- Effects of Multiple High-Dose Methamphetamine Administration on Enteric Dopaminergic Neurons and Intestinal Motility in the Rat Model.Neurotoxicity research · 2023Article
- Nonlinear Closed-Loop Predictive Control of Heart Rate and Blood Pressure Using Vagus Nerve Stimulation: An In Silico Study.IEEE transactions on bio-medical engineering · 2023Article
- Autonomic Modulation of Atrial Fibrillation.JACC. Basic to translational science · 2023Review
- Vagus nerve stimulation in the non-human primate: implantation methodology, characterization of nerve anatomy, target engagement and experimental applications.Bioelectronic medicine · 2023Article
- Spatially selective stimulation of the pig vagus nerve to modulate target effect versus side effect.Journal of neural engineering · 2023Article
7 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundVagus nerve stimulation (VNS) therapy has been used for chronic heart failure and is believed to improve imbalance of autonomic control by increasing parasympathetic activity. Although it is known that there is neural communication between the VN and the cervical sympathetic trunk, there are few data regarding the quantity and/or distribution of the sympathetic components within the vagus nerve (VN).
objectiveTo examine the sympathetic components within the human VN and correlate them with the presence of cardiac and neurologic diseases.
methodsWe performed immunohistochemistry on 31 human cervical and thoracic VNs (total 104 VNs) from autopsies and reviewed the patients' records. We correlated the quantity of sympathetic nerve fibers within the VNs with cardiovascular and neurologic disease states.
resultsAll 104 VNs contain tyrosine hydroxylase (TH)-positive (sympathetic) nerve fibers; the mean TH-positive areas were 5.47% in the right cervical VN, 3.97% in the left cervical VN, 5.11% in the right thoracic VN, and 4.20% in the left thoracic VN. The distribution of TH-positive nerve fibers varied from case to case: central, peripheral, or scattered throughout nerve bundles. No statistically significant differences in nerve morphology were seen between diseases in which VNS is considered effective (depression and chronic heart failure) and other cardiovascular diseases or neurodegenerative disease.
conclusionHuman VNs contain sympathetic nerve fibers. The sympathetic component within the VN could play a role in physiologic effects reported with VNS. The recognition of sympathetic nerve fibers in the VNs may lead to better understanding of the therapeutic mechanisms of VNS.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.