Journal
PHYSIOLOGICAL REVIEWS
Volume 90, Issue 2, Pages 513-557Publisher
AMER PHYSIOLOGICAL SOC
DOI: 10.1152/physrev.00007.2009
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Health Research Council of New Zealand
- Auckland Medical Research Foundation
- Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust
- University of Auckland
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Malpas SC. Sympathetic Nervous System Overactivity and Its Role in the Development of Cardiovascular Disease. Physiol Rev 90: 513-557, 2010; doi:10.1152/physrev.00007.2009.-This review examines how the sympathetic nervous system plays a major role in the regulation of cardiovascular function over multiple time scales. This is achieved through differential regulation of sympathetic outflow to a variety of organs. This differential control is a product of the topographical organization of the central nervous system and a myriad of afferent inputs. Together this organization produces sympathetic responses tailored to match stimuli. The long-term control of sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) is an area of considerable interest and involves a variety of mediators acting in a quite distinct fashion. These mediators include arterial baroreflexes, angiotensin II, blood volume and osmolarity, and a host of humoral factors. A key feature of many cardiovascular diseases is increased SNA. However, rather than there being a generalized increase in SNA, it is organ specific, in particular to the heart and kidneys. These increases in regional SNA are associated with increased mortality. Understanding the regulation of organ-specific SNA is likely to offer new targets for drug therapy. There is a need for the research community to develop better animal models and technologies that reflect the disease progression seen in humans. A particular focus is required on models in which SNA is chronically elevated.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available