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Review
. 2025 Aug:93:103068.
doi: 10.1016/j.conb.2025.103068. Epub 2025 Jun 25.

Cardiac vagal motor neurons

Yoko Brigitte Wang  1 , Sandy E Saunders  1 , John N Campbell  2 , Carie R Boychuk  3
Affiliations
Review

Cardiac vagal motor neurons

Yoko Brigitte Wang et al. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2025 Aug.

Abstract

Since their discovery five decades ago, cardiac vagal motor neurons (CVNs) have been studied for their roles in autonomic control of cardiac function. However, it is only within the past decade that our understanding of CVNs has rapidly progressed. Driven by technological advances in neuroscience, novel findings are revealing genetic markers of CVN's subpopulation in the nucleus ambiguus (CVNNA), resolving controversial roles of CVN in the dorsal motor nucleus of the vagus (CVNDMV), and dissecting the complexity of CVN-related neural circuitry. The roles of CVNs have also expanded in the mechanisms of disease pathophysiology beyond the typical autonomic disorders, highlighting the therapeutic potential of targeting CVNs. In this review, we discuss recent advances in CVNs subtypes, neural circuits, and roles in cardiometabolic disease and mental health-related disorders pathophysiology. We also present current challenges and a prospective outlook on the field.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: CRB reports financial support, article publishing charges, and equipment, drugs, or supplies were provided by NIH R01HL157366. JNC reports financial support, article publishing charges, and equipment, drugs, or supplies were provided by NIH R01 HL153916. YBW and SES declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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