The cells that make up the human heart "talk" to each other with the help of a neurotransmitter known as acetylcholine (ACH, for short). Researchers who studied the phenomenon explain that this system allows the cells to better regulate the heart's activity.
In a paper published in The FASEB Journal, experts explain that, until recently, it was believed that the nervous system alone controlled the activity of the heart.
However, given that the number of nerves controlling the heart is quite low, researchers at the University of Western Ontario suspect that some other mechanism must be at play.
It turns out that when a nerve gives a signal, the heart cells receive it and then transmit it from one to another by releasing acetylcholine.
And Robert Gros, PhD, explains in EurekAlert : “The nerve sends a message and individual cells in the heart receive that signal. They can transduce the signal by releasing ACh from one cell to another. It is the propagation of that signal that regulates the heart. A neuronal system is based on nerves, but now we are talking about a non-neuronal system, which means it is not in any nerve tissue, but is in the cells of their heart.”
The researchers now want to investigate how heart failure affects the ability of cells to communicate with each other.
