The relevance of the superior cervical ganglion for cardiac autonomic innervation in health and disease: a systematic review.

Purpose: The heart receives cervical and thoracic sympathetic contributions. Although the stellate ganglion is considered the main contributor to cardiac sympathetic innervation, the superior cervical ganglia (SCG) is used in many experimental studies. The clinical relevance of the SCG to cardiac innervation is controversial.

Cardiac sympathetic hyperinnervation after myocardial infarction: a systematic review and qualitative analysis.

Background: Cardiac sympathetic hyperinnervation after myocardial infarction (MI) is associated with arrhythmogenesis and sudden cardiac death. The characteristics of cardiac sympathetic hyperinnervation remain underexposed.

Objective: To provide a systematic review on cardiac sympathetic hyperinnervation after MI, taking into account: (1) definition, experimental model and quantification method and (2) location, amount and timing, in order to obtain an overview of current knowledge and to expose gaps in literature.

Acute myocardial infarction induces remodeling of the murine superior cervical ganglia and the carotid body.

A role for cardiac sympathetic hyperinnervation in arrhythmogenesis after myocardial infarction (MI) has increasingly been recognized. In humans and mice, the heart receives cervical as well as thoracic sympathetic contributions. In mice, superior cervical ganglia (SCG) have been shown to contribute significantly to myocardial sympathetic innervation of the left ventricular anterior wall.

Low-input Nucleus Isolation and Multiplexing with Barcoded Antibodies of Mouse Sympathetic Ganglia for Single-nucleus RNA Sequencing.

The cardiac autonomic nervous system is crucial in controlling cardiac function, such as heart rate and cardiac contractility, and is divided into sympathetic and parasympathetic branches. Normally, there is a balance between these two branches to maintain homeostasis. However, cardiac disease states such as myocardial infarction, heart failure, and hypertension can induce the remodeling of cells involved in cardiac innervation, which is associated with an adverse clinical outcome.

Combining Mobilizing Agents with Busulfan to Reduce Chemotherapy-Based Conditioning for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

In the context of hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) transplantation, conditioning with myelo- and immune-ablative agents is used to eradicate the patient's diseased cells, generate space in the marrow and suppress immune reactions prior to the infusion of donor HSCs. While conditioning is required for effective and long-lasting HSC engraftment, currently used regimens are also associated with short and long-term side effects on extramedullary tissues and even mortality. Particularly in patients with severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), who are generally less than 1-year old at the time of transplantation and often suffer from existing comorbidities.

Successful Preclinical Development of Gene Therapy for Recombinase-Activating Gene-1-Deficient SCID.

Recombinase-activating gene-1 (RAG1)-deficient severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) patients lack B and T lymphocytes due to the inability to rearrange immunoglobulin and T cell receptor genes. Gene therapy is an alternative for those RAG1-SCID patients who lack a suitable bone marrow donor. We designed lentiviral vectors with different internal promoters driving codon-optimized to ensure optimal expression.

Endolymph movement visualized with light sheet fluorescence microscopy in an acute hydrops model.

There are a variety of techniques available to investigate endolymph dynamics, primarily seeking to understand the cause of endolymphatic hydrops. Here we have taken the novel approach of injecting, via a glass micropipette, fluorescein isothiocyanate-dextran (FITC-dex) and artificial endolymph into scala media of anaesthetized guinea pigs, with subsequent imaging of the inner ear using Light Sheet Fluorescence Microscopy (LSFM) as a means to obtain highly resolved 3D visualization of fluid movements. Our results demonstrate endolymph movement into the utricle, semicircular canals and endolymphatic duct and sac when more than 2.