{"id":562808,"date":"2026-07-22T16:27:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T16:27:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/562808\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T16:27:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T16:27:11","slug":"cardiac-integrated-chip-recreates-brain-heart-signalling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/562808\/","title":{"rendered":"Cardiac Integrated Chip Recreates Brain-Heart Signalling"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>CARDIAC innervation-on-a-chip recreated key neuro-cardiac interactions in a fully human in-vitro model, demonstrating functional communication between neurons and cardiomyocytes.<\/p>\n<p>Researchers developed a compartmentalised microfluidic platform that combined human-induced <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emjreviews.com\/cardiology\/abstract\/analysing-the-regulation-of-a-catecholamine-dependent-altered-camp-signalling-in-a-patient-specific-induced-pluripotent-stem-cell-takotsubo-model\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">pluripotent stem cell<\/a> derived cortical neurons, postganglionic sympathetic neurons, and ventricular cardiomyocytes to model the brain-heart axis.<\/p>\n<p>Building A Human Brain-Heart Axis Model<\/p>\n<p>The investigators used a three-compartment microfluidic device known as a 3D3C chip to culture the three cell types in separate but connected environments.<\/p>\n<p>Axons extended through micro-tunnels linking cortical neurons to sympathetic neurons and sympathetic neurons to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.emjreviews.com\/cardiology\/news\/cholesterol-pathway-disruption-drives-dcm-cell-damage\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">cardiomyocytes<\/a>, creating physical connections that mirrored neurocardiac organisation.<\/p>\n<p>Integrated micro-electrode arrays enabled continuous monitoring of electrical activity across the platform.<\/p>\n<p>Over a 21-day culture period, all cell types remained viable and developed characteristic electrophysiological activity.<\/p>\n<p>Cortical neurons and sympathetic neurons displayed increasing spontaneous firing and burst activity, while cardiomyocytes developed stable beating behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>Structural analyses confirmed direct neuronal contacts with cardiomyocytes, including synaptic markers and sympathetic axonal varicosities associated with neurotransmitter release.<\/p>\n<p>Functional Cardiac Innervation-on-a-Chip Responses<\/p>\n<p>Gene expression and neurotransmitter analyses supported the presence of functional adrenergic and cholinergic signalling pathways within the model.<\/p>\n<p>Norepinephrine secretion was detected and was significantly higher than acetylcholine levels in sympathetic neuron and cardiomyocyte compartments, indicating established sympathetic signalling.<\/p>\n<p>To assess functionality, researchers stimulated cortical neurons with kainic acid.<\/p>\n<p>This increased neuronal activity and was followed by a rise in sympathetic neuronal firing and a significant increase in cardiomyocyte beating rate from 27.84 BPM to 29.19 BPM.<\/p>\n<p>Subsequent stimulation of sympathetic neurons with acetylcholine further elevated cardiomyocyte beating frequency from 29.19 BPM to 31.42 BPM.<\/p>\n<p>Increased norepinephrine release was also observed following neuronal stimulation.<\/p>\n<p>Implications For Disease Modelling<\/p>\n<p>Beyond functional connectivity, sympathetic innervation enhanced cardiomyocyte maturation.<\/p>\n<p>Electrophysiological measurements also demonstrated significant changes in field potential duration following neuronal stimulation.<\/p>\n<p>The researchers concluded that this cardiac innervation-on-a-chip platform successfully reproduced physical and functional brain-heart interactions using entirely human cell populations.<\/p>\n<p>By integrating electrophysiological monitoring with targeted neuronal stimulation, the system provides a promising platform for investigating neurocardiac disease mechanisms and evaluating future therapeutic approaches.<\/p>\n<p>Reference<\/p>\n<p>Pesu E et al. Human cardiac innervation-on-a-chip platform recapitulates neurocardiac interactions and supports future disease modeling. Sci Rep. 2026;DOI:10.1038\/s41598-026-62182-2<\/p>\n<p>Featured image: PIC4U on Adobe Stock<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CARDIAC innervation-on-a-chip recreated key neuro-cardiac interactions in a fully human in-vitro model, demonstrating functional communication between neurons and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,61,60],"class_list":["post-562808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}