Correlation between sonographic morphology and function of the cervical vagus nerves.

Correlation between sonographic morphology and function of the cervical vagus nerves. Auton Neurosci. 2019 May 17;: Authors: Pelz JO, Belau E, Menze I, Woost TB, Classen J, Weise D Abstract The heart receives parasympathetic and to a lesser degree sympathetic input via the vagus nerve. Here, we investigated whether morphological changes of the cervical vagus nerves (VN) as assessed by high-resolution ultrasound (HRUS) correlated with the autonomic cardiac innervation. Measurement of heart rate variability (HRV) and HRUS of the VNs were performed in 88 healthy subjects (50 female; mean age 56 ± 18 years). HRV parameters and the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the VNs correlated both inversely with age. We also found an inverse correlation between the left VN-CSA and HRV as well as parasympathetic parameters. The results imply an asymmetric parasympathetic (vagal) innervation of the heart. PMID: 31126827 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Autonomic Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Auton Neurosci Source Type: research