This allows them to better regulate heart activity, researchers say

Sep 25, 2013 18:41 GMT  ·  By

The cells that make up the human heart “talk” to one another with the help of a neurotransmitter known as acetylcholine (ACh, for short). Researchers who studied the phenomenon explain that, as far as they can tell, this allows the cells to better regulate heart activity.

In a paper published in The FASEB Journal, specialists explain that, until recently, it was believed that the nervous system alone controls heart activity.

However, given the fact that the number of nerves that control the heart is fairly low, researchers at the University of Western Ontario suspected that some other mechanism must be at play.

It turns out that, whenever a nerve fires a signal, heart cells pick it up and then transmit it from one to another by releasing acetylcholine.

“The nerve sends a signal and individual heart cells pick up that signal; they can transduce that signal by the release of ACh from one cell to the next. It's the propagation of this signal that regulates the heart,” explains Robert Gros, PhD, as cited by EurekAlert.

“A neuronal system is nerve-based but now we're talking about a non-neuronal system, which means it's not in any nerve tissue but found in the heart cells themselves,” he adds.

The researchers now wish to investigate how heart failure affects the cells' ability to communicate with one another.