Hand2 determines the noradrenergic phenotype in the mouse sympathetic nervous system

The bHLH transcription factor hand2 is essential for noradrenergic differentiation of sympathetic neurons.

The basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor Hand2, together with Ascl1, Phox2a, Phox2b and Gata2/Gata3, is induced by bone morphogenetic proteins in neural crest-derived precursor cells during sympathetic neuron generation. Hand2 overexpression experiments and the analysis of its function at the Dbh promotor implicated Hand2 in the control of noradrenergic gene expression. Using the zebrafi...

ADENOSINE IN THE CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM

Besides being a metabolite of nucleotides like ATP, adenosine is a mediator of neuronal function in the central nervous system. Its actions are mediated by at least three extracellular receptors. In this review different aspects of adenosine such as biosynthesis, release, inactivation and its receptors are discussed. It also covers pre- and postsynaptic effects as well as postreceptor mecha...

The Surgery of the Sympathetic Nervous System

Sympathetic nervous system neuroplasticity.

In human and experimental models of heart failure there is widespread change in the sympathetic nervous system. This involves preferential activation of the sympathetic nervous outflow to the heart, impairment of norepinephrine reuptake by sympathetic nerves, and reduction of the content of norepinephrine in the failing myocardium, attributable in part to sympathetic neuronal rarefaction.1–4 Mi...

The sympathetic nervous system and heart failure.

Heart failure (HF) is a syndrome characterized by upregulation of the sympathetic nervous system and abnormal responsiveness of the parasympathetic nervous system. Studies in the 1980s and 1990s demonstrated that inhibition of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system with angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors improved symptoms and mortality in HF resulting from systolic dysfunction, thus pro...