Sensing Tissue Ischemia

Background— Chest pain is a hallmark of myocardial ischemia, but its underlying signaling mechanisms remain poorly understood. The capsaicin receptor, vanilloid receptor-1 (VR 1 ), is an important cation channel present on primary nociceptive neurons. We have shown that the VR 1 is expressed on sensory nerve endings of the heart. In the present study, we determined the role of VR 1 s in activation of cardiac spinal afferent nerves caused by...