Autonomic nervous system articles within Nature Communications

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  • Article
    | Open Access

    Previous work has shown that natural cardiac rhythms modulate the perception and reaction to sensory cues through changes in associated neural signals. Here, the authors show that sensitivity to prediction errors during reward learning is related to the phase of the cardiac cycle.

    • Elsa F. Fouragnan
    • , Billy Hosking
    •  & Alejandra Sel

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Current liquid-based optical clearing protocols can suffer from solvent evaporation and photobleaching. Here, the authors develop a solid high-refractive-index polymer to embed mouse and human tissues for clearing and antifade high-resolution 3D imaging.

    • Fu-Ting Hsiao
    • , Hung-Jen Chien
    •  & Shiue-Cheng Tang

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Coagulation factor VIII deficiency in hemophilia A disrupts clotting and prolongs bleeding. Here, the authors show that vagus nerve stimulation bypasses this defect and improves hemostasis in hemophilia A mice through a mechanism requiring acetylcholine-secreting ChAT+ T lymphocytes in spleen and α7nAChR on circulating platelets.

    • Carlos E. Bravo-Iñiguez
    • , Jason R. Fritz
    •  & Jared M. Huston

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Sympathetic neurons are affected in familial dysautonomia, a rare disease associated with a mutation in ELP1, but the mechanisms are not fully understood. Here the authors show, using neurons derived from participants with familial dysauotnomia, that spontaneous sympathetic neuron hyperactivity is observed and is associated with norepinephrine transporter deficits.

    • Hsueh-Fu Wu
    • , Wenxin Yu
    •  & Nadja Zeltner

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The autonomic nervous systems densely innervate the pancreas, but its contribution to pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) progression is not fully understood. Here, the authors characterize the pattern of sympathetic innervation by 3D imaging in a murine model of PDAC and show that sympathectomy aggravates cancer progression.

    • Jérémy Guillot
    • , Chloé Dominici
    •  & Fanny Mann

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Hypothalamic melanocortin neurons regulate systemic glucose homeostasis through incompletely understood pathways. Here, the authors show that a subset of pro-opiomelanocortin neurons innervate the liver via preganglionic parasympathetic cholinergic neurons in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus and that stimulation of this pathway elevates blood glucose levels

    • Eunjin Kwon
    • , Hye-Young Joung
    •  & Young-Hwan Jo

  • Article
    | Open Access

    To be successful, selective neuromodulation requires a non-invasive method of imaging the fascicular anatomy of peripheral nerves. Here, the authors show the applicability and reliability of fast neural electrical impedance tomography for this purpose and provide its validation against the gold standards of invasive imaging.

    • Enrico Ravagli
    • , Svetlana Mastitskaya
    •  & David Holder

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The involvement of cAMP-dependent regulation of HCN4 in the chronotropic heart rate response is a matter of debate. Here the authors use a knockin mouse model expressing cAMP-insensitive HCN4 channels to discover an inhibitory nonfiring cell pool in the sinoatrial node and a tonic and mutual interaction between firing and nonfiring pacemaker cells that is controlled by cAMP-dependent regulation of HCN4, with implications in chronotropic heart rate responses.

    • Stefanie Fenske
    • , Konstantin Hennis
    •  & Christian Wahl-Schott

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Autonomic dysfunction is a feature of some α-synucleinopathies, but there are no models of pure autonomic dysfunction associated with α-synuclein. Here the authors describe a mouse model of pure autonomic dysfunction without motor dysfunciton by injection of pre-formed fibrils of α-synuclein to the stellate and celiac ganglia.

    • Xue-Jing Wang
    • , Ming-Ming Ma
    •  & Xue-Bing Ding

  • Article
    | Open Access

    Demonstrating a causal relationship between cardiac vagal tone and exercise capacity has been previously limited by methodological constraints. Using genetic targeting, silencing and optogenetic recruitment of vagal motor neuron activity in rodents, Machhadaet al. provide direct evidence that vagal drive determines the ability to exercise.

    • Asif Machhada
    • , Stefan Trapp
    •  & Alexander V. Gourine

  • Article
    | Open Access

    The enteric nervous system (ENS) plays a key role in regulating gut motility and homeostasis yet it remains a challenging system to record from. Here, the authors develop a novel abdominal window permitting simultaneous optical and electrical recording of mouse ENS system activity over prolonged time periods.

    • Nikolai Rakhilin
    • , Bradley Barth
    •  & Xiling Shen

  • Article |

    The segmentation motor activity of the small intestine is believed to be a result of alternating inhibitory and excitatory neural activity. Huizinga et al.show that the segmentation motor pattern is in fact a result of phase–amplitude interactions of slow-wave activities generated by two networks of interstitial cells of Cajal.

    • Jan D. Huizinga
    • , Ji-Hong Chen
    •  & David Chen

  • Article |

    Irradiation treatment for cancer therapy often causes irreparable damage to adult organs. Knox and colleagues study irradiated mouse submandibular salivary glands and find that restoring parasympathetic nerve function with the neurotrophic factor neurturin improves regeneration.

    • Sarah M. Knox
    • , Isabelle M. A. Lombaert
    •  & Matthew P. Hoffman

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