Neurophysiology of Heart

Abstract

Heart occupies a special place in our life, and physiologically, it is central to the functions of the cardiovascular system. The heart has inherent ability to generate its own rhythm and modulate its functions. The neural centres in the medulla integrate the afferent information from cardiovascular system with the modulatory signals from the cortical and sub-cortical neural regions to control the rate, rhythm and contracility of the heart. The sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves innervate the heart and form a network of plexuses with the intrinsic cardiac nervous system. These sympathetic and parasympathetic drives are modulated to operate in antagonistic, synergistic and temporally sequenced mode in context-specific patterns. The overall neural organization ensures that the functioning of the heart is modulated to synchronize it with the overall scheme of homeostasis and to support the ongoing physical and emotional components of motivated behaviour.