Author: Rebecca J. Salamon

Publisher:

Published: 2023

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

My thesis highlights important discoveries about the pathways and patterns regulating cardiac development, disease, and regeneration. A central regulator of cardiovascular physiology and pathology is the cardiac nervous system, composed of sympathetic, parasympathetic, and sensory nerves. Yet, our understanding of nerve architecture has been limited by two-dimensional analysis. I utilized innovative technologies, including tissue clearing methods and three-dimensional (3D) analysis, to investigate the intact cardiac nervous system. My 3D approach provides a basis for investigating typical cardiac nerve architecture, as well as nerve remodeling in diseased and regenerative settings. My research identified extensive parasympathetic innervation in the cardiac ventricles and a novel phenotype of intertwined parasympathetic and sympathetic axons. I also discovered differences in axon remodeling between the regenerative and non-regenerative mouse heart, demonstrating that the regenerating neonatal heart undergoes a unique process of physiological reinnervation. This neural plasticity may be harnessed therapeutically to prevent arrhythmias after cardiac injury. Additionally, I explored the role of the cellular metabolic state and specific proteins, such as Leucine-rich repeat containing 10 (LRRC10), in promoting neonatal and adult mammalian cardiac regeneration. These studies have direct clinical implications for promoting endogenous cardiac regeneration for the treatment of heart failure, given that current treatments are limited. Furthermore, these findings provide a framework for identifying novel pathways and molecular targets that could reawaken the regenerative response in the adult heart after injury. Taken together, my research represents a significant step forward in understanding the pathways and patterns underpinning heart development, disease, and regeneration, highlighting exciting new opportunities for developing therapeutic interventions that promote cardiac repair.