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J Appl Physiol (February 20, 2004). doi:10.1152/japplphysiol.00616.2003
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Submitted on June 16, 2003
Accepted on September 12, 2003

Parasympathetic Control of the Heart (2): A Novel Interganglionic Cardiac Circuit Mediates Neural Control of Heart Rate

Alrich L Gray1, Tannis A Johnson1, Jeffrey L Ardell2, and V J Massari3*

1 Pharmacology, Howard University, Washington, DC, USA
2 Pharmacology, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA
3 Pharmacology, Howard University, Washington, DC, USA; Specialized Neuroscience Research Program, Howard University, Washington, DC, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: vmassari{at}howard.edu.

Intracardiac pathways mediating the parasympathetic control of various cardiac functions are incompletely understood. Several intracardiac ganglia have been demonstrated to potently influence cardiac rate (the SA ganglion), atrioventricular conduction (the AV ganglion), or left ventricular contractility (the CV ganglion). However, there are numerous ganglia found throughout the heart whose functions are poorly characterized. One such ganglion, the posterior atrial (PA) ganglion, is found in a fat pad on the rostral dorsal surface of the right atrium. We have investigated the potential impact of this ganglion on cardiac rate and AV conduction. We report that microinjections of a ganglionic blocker into the PA ganglion significantly attenuates the negative chronotropic effects of vagal stimulation without significantly influencing negative dromotropic effects. Since prior evidence indicates that the PA ganglion does not project to the SA node, we neuroanatomically tested the hypothesis that the PA ganglion mediates its affect on cardiac rate through an inter-ganglionic projection to the SA ganglion. Subsequent to microinjections of the retrograde tracer, Fast Blue, into the SA ganglion, more than 70% of the retrogradely labeled neurons found within 5 intracardiac ganglia throughout the heart were observed in the PA ganglion. The neuroanatomical data further indicate that intra-ganglionic neuronal circuits are found within the SA ganglion. The present data support the hypothesis that two interacting cardiac centers, i.e. the SA and PA ganglia, mediate the peripheral parasympathetic control of cardiac rate. These data further support the emerging concept of an "intrinsic cardiac nervous system".




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