Abstract 421: Organ-on-chip Model for Investigating Autonomic Innervation of the Cardiac Microenvironment

Authors: Jonathan R Soucy, Tess Torregrosa, Sanjin Hosic, Sebastian M Arteaga, Abigail N Koppes, Ryan A Koppes

Published: 2019-10-16

Abstract

Cardiac sympathovagal imbalance is a dysfunction of the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems (PSNS and SNS) that, in tandem, regulate cardiac output in response to environmental stimuli. This autonomic nervous system (ANS) imbalance increases the risk of cardiac arrhythmias and sudden cardiac failure due to an inability to modulate heart rate following overexertion or excessive stress. Therefore, there is an immediate need to understand the underlying cellular mechanisms of cardiac innervation to develop new strategies to restore ANS balance. Moving away from the complexity and variability of