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Muscle Sympathetic Nerve Activity and Cardiovascular Disease

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Clinical Assessment of the Autonomic Nervous System

Abstract

The sympathetic nervous system can rapidly respond to the onset of a disruption in arterial pressure and plays essential roles in regulating cardiovascular function together with the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system. On the other hand, chronic sympathetic overactivity could be associated with the onset and progression of hypertension, heart failure, or arrhythmia. The fact that sympathetic overactivity is an independent predictor of a poor outcome in patients with heart failure has been known for about 30 years. Accurate assessment of sympathetic nerve activity is required in clinical practice. Various methods including measuring neurotransmitters (norepinephrine), evaluating the responses of effectors (heart rate or blood pressure), neurotransmitter imaging (meta-iodobenzylguanidine), and so on have been applied to evaluate sympathetic nerve functions. However, quantifying the time-varying sympathetic activity which maintains body homeostasis over time is difficult. Microneurographic recording is the only way to directly evaluate sympathetic nerve activity from the human peripheral nerves. This chapter describes recent observations obtained by microneurographic recordings of muscle sympathetic nerve activity that have been adopted to reconsider the relationship between sympathetic nerve activity and several cardiovascular diseases.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 15K01363.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Second Department of Internal Medicine, University of Toyama, 2630 Sugitani, Toyama, 930-0194, Japan

    Shuji Joho

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  1. Shuji Joho
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Correspondence to Shuji Joho .

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  1. Department of Phyisiology, Aichi Medical University, Nagakute, Aichi, Japan

    Satoshi Iwase

  2. Nagoya City University, Graduate School of Medical Science, Nagoya, Japan

    Junichiro Hayano

  3. Department of Neurology, Kanto Central Hospital, Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Satoshi Orimo

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Joho, S. (2017). Muscle Sympathetic Nerve Activity and Cardiovascular Disease. In: Iwase, S., Hayano, J., Orimo, S. (eds) Clinical Assessment of the Autonomic Nervous System. Springer, Tokyo. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56012-8_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-4-431-56012-8_3

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