Aging is associated with structural and functional changes in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), which innervates the whole body, and its altered function may influence almost all body systems. Changes related to aging are found in autonomic nerves and ganglia, and ANS controlled functions including cardiovascular functions. Much of the current knowledge about age-related changes in sympatheti...

The autonomic nervous system plays an important role in the genesis of various cardiac rhythm disorders. Experimental studies have indicated that in atrial fibrillation particularly vagal activity may have a decisive influence on the electrophysiologic properties of atrial myocardium. In patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation, a carefully taken history and electrocardiographic findings ob...

A specialized taxonomy of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) has been developing since the time of Galen (ad 130200). In the early 1900s, Langley first referred to the ANS. He used the term sympathetic nervous system (SNS) as described by Willis in 1665, and introduced the second division as the parasympathetic nervous system (PNS) in 1921. Although Langely initially described only the visceral...

That hypertension is due to a derangement of sympathetic and parasympathetic cardiovascular regulation is one of the most widely accredited and tested hypotheses in cardiovascular research. Its proposal followed from the demonstration that autonomic cardiovascular influences play a fundamental role in homeostatic control of the cardiovascular system. In animal models of hypertension, both an in...

An increased sympathetic drive combined with decreased parasympathetic inhibition is found in patients with borderline hypertension, who characteristically have rapid heart rates, high cardiac output and relatively normal vascular resistance (hyperkinetic state). In established hypertension, cardiac output is normal, vascular resistance is elevated and signs of increased sympathetic drive are a...

INTRODUCTION The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is made up of a complex set of neurons and pathways that control the functioning of the different body systems within the organism. Its overall function is that of maintaining a state of homeostasis in the organism and of performing the adaptation responses when faced with changes in the external and internal environment. METHODS The ANS is comp...

The autonomic nervous system is a crucial component in regulatory responses of the cardiovascular system. There has been increasing evidence of research demonstrating that dysregulation of this system has an important role in the pathogenesis of common cardiovascular disorders, including hypertension, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, cardiac sudden death or neurally-mediated syncope. This pa...

Pharmacogenetics, the inherited basis for interindividual differences in drug response, has rapidly expanded with the advent of new molecular tools and the sequencing of the human genome, yielding pharmacogenomics. We review here recent ideas and findings regarding pharmacogenomics of components of the autonomic nervous system, in particular, neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors, postsyna...

The autonomic nervous system maintains internal homeostasis by regulating cardiovascular, thermoregulatory, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, exocrine, and pupillary function. Testing and quantifying autonomic nervous system function is an important but difficult area of clinical neurophysiology. Tests of parasympathetic cardiovagal regulation include heart rate analysis during standing (the 30:...