The sympathetic nervous system has been implicated in pain associated with painful diabetic neuropathy. However, therapeutic intervention targeted at the sympathetic nervous system has not been established. We thus tested the hypothesis that sympathetic nerve blocks significantly reduce pain in a patient with painful diabetic neuropathy who has failed multiple pharmacological treatments. The di...

Sympathetic nervous system development depends upon many factors that mediate neuron migration, differentiation and survival. Target tissue-derived nerve growth factor (NGF) signaling-induced gene expression is required for survival, differentiation and target tissue innervation of post-migratory sympathetic neurons. However, the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms mediated by NGF signaling a...

Elevated sympathetic activity changes renal function and accelerates the development of hypertension. Principles of sympatho-renal interactions in chronic hypertension are reviewed. Alterations in the ontogeny of the sympathetic nervous system and the kidney, inherited abnormalities in sensory receptor function and exaggerated responsiveness to mental stress contribute to inappropriately high s...

Sympathetic axons use blood vessels as an intermediate path to reach their final target tissues. The initial contact between differentiating sympathetic neurons and blood vessels occurs following the primary sympathetic chain formation, where precursors of sympathetic neurons migrate and project axons along or toward blood vessels. We demonstrate that, in Ret-deficient mice, neuronal precursors...

1. The influence of age on the rate of spillover of noradrenaline into plasma, clearance of noradrenaline from plasma, and plasma noradrenaline concentration at rest was studied in 34 healthy subjects aged 20--69 years. 2. The plasma concentration of noradrenaline was dependent on age, values being higher in older subjects. 3. This age-dependence of plasma noradrenaline concentration was due pr...