Heart-brain communication for salt-sensitive sympathoexcitation in heart failure

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25461112
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Cardiovascular medicine
• Research Institution: Kyushu University
• Principal Investigator: Ito Koji 九州大学, 医学(系)研究科(研究院), 共同研究員 (10452757)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 心不全 / 交感神経 / 心脳 臓器連関 / 食塩

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Recently, we demonstrated that salt intake leads to sympathoexcitation due to the activation of the hypothalamic epithelial sodium channels (ENaCs) in heart failure. The aim of the present study was to clarify the mechanism of ENaCs activation in heart failure. The cardiac sympathetic afferent (CSA) is stimulated in heart failure, therefore we stimulated the CSA in mice by epicardial application of capsaicin. The capsaicin treatment upregulated the expression levels of the hypothalamic αENaCs with the increase in TNF-α. Arterial pressure (AP) and heart rate (HR) were increased by intracerebroventricular infusion of a high-Na-containing artificial cerebrospinal fluid in capsaicin-treated mice compared to that in control mice. In addition, the salt diet augmented AP, HR in capsaicin-treated mice but not in control mice. We show that CSA stimulation leads to an upregulation of hypothalamic ENaCs mediated via an increase in TNF-α and results in increased salt sensitivity.

Free Research Field

循環器内科学