Intrinsic cardiac ganglia The little brain on the heart
The locations of human intrinsic cardiac neurons and the mediastinal nerves that contain axons connecting with such neurons remain poorly understood despite the fact that the anatomy of this nervous system has been the subject of scrutiny for over a century 1-( Francillon)2-( Kuntz,)3-( Davies et al.) 4-(Mitchell) 5-(Robb). Intrinsic cardiac neurons have been reported to be located in small ganglia scattered primarily over the posterior surfaces of the atria 4-(Mitchell,1956), particularly in the posterior atrioventricular groove 6-(Dogiel, 1899)7-( Glomset ). Few neurons have been associated with human ventricular tissues 2-(Kuntz, )3-( Davies) 8-(Janes et al.,1986). Recent work has indicated that the mammalian intrinsic cardiac nervous system is widely distributed, possessing a number of different types of neurons.. These neurons interact via a number of synaptic mechanisms to maintain adequate cardiac output
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The present study was undertaken to identify the full extent of the human intrinsic cardiac nervous system as well as the interrelationships of its ganglia within different cardiac regions. We estimated the relative numbers of ganglia on the human heart and studied the morphology and synaptology of human intrinsic cardiac neurons. In this manner, we sought to provide an overview of the distribution, size, and anatomic relationships of intrinsic cardiac ganglia and to propose a descriptive terminology that identifies their major cardiac sites in order to help locate this nervous system for functional studies in, for instance, the operating theater
