Keywords

Whole-mount immunohistochemistry, Neurolucida 360, 3D anatomical scaffold, Sympathetic remodeling, Spontaneously hypertensive rat, Cardiac innervation

Abstract

Hypertension is a leading cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality and is strongly associated with dysregulation of the sympathetic nervous system, which plays a central role in controlling heart rate, vascular tone, and blood pressure. Although increased sympathetic activity has been widely documented in hypertensive disease, the precise structural organization of sympathetic innervation within the hypertensive heart remains incompletely characterized. This study investigates whether chronic hypertension is associated with structural remodeling of sympathetic axons in the left ventricle by comparing autonomic innervation patterns between spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) and normotensive Wistar Kyoto rats (WKY). Hearts were collected following transcardial perfusion fixation and the left ventricle was isolated for whole mount immunohistochemical labeling of tyrosine hydroxylase, a marker of catecholaminergic sympathetic axons. High resolution image stacks were obtained and traced using Neurolucida 360 to reconstruct and digitize sympathetic axonal structures. Comparisons focus on qualitative and structural differences in axonal morphology between groups. Traced axonal datasets were further integrated into a three-dimensional anatomical scaffold to map innervation patterns within the spatial context of the left ventricle. By characterizing how sympathetic innervation architecture differs between hypertensive and normotensive hearts, this work provides insight into autonomic remodeling in hypertension and contributes to a better mechanistic understanding of cardiovascular autonomic regulation.

Thesis Completion Year

2026

Thesis Completion Semester

Spring

Thesis Chair

Cheng, Zixi

College

College of Medicine

Department

Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences

Thesis Discipline

Neuroscience

Language

English

Access Status

Open Access

Length of Campus Access

None

Campus Location

Orlando (Main) Campus

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Rights Statement

In Copyright