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Heartbeat-induced pressure pulsations in cerebral arteries modulate neuronal activity

Nature Reviews Cardiology volume 21, page 218 (2024)Cite this article

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Heartbeat-induced pressure pulsations within arterial vessels in the brain can directly stimulate central neuronal activity by activating mechanosensitive channels in subsets of neurons. This finding, published in Science, provides insights into how these ‘heartbeat sentinel neurons’ can modulate mood and cognitive processes via an intrinsic interoceptive mechanism.

“In the study, using a semi-isolated nose–brain preparation, in which the brain tissue of the rat olfactory bulb is perfused with a peristaltic pump, we observed oscillations in the local field potential at a fairly slow frequency (2–4 Hz), which we wanted to explain mechanistically,” says Veronica Egger, the lead author of the study. “We proposed that there would be local pacemaker neurons responsible for these oscillations, and that this intrinsic rhythm could be entrained by respiration, which is known to cause network oscillations at similar frequencies in rodents,” she adds.

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References

Original article

  • Jammal Salameh, L. et al. Blood pressure pulsations modulate central neuronal activity via mechanosensitive ion channels. Science 383, eadk8511 (2024)

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  1. Nature Reviews Cardiology http://www.nature.com/nrcardio/

    Karina Huynh

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  1. Karina Huynh
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Correspondence to Karina Huynh.

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Huynh, K. Heartbeat-induced pressure pulsations in cerebral arteries modulate neuronal activity. Nat Rev Cardiol 21, 218 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-024-00999-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41569-024-00999-y

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