The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of skin conductance level reactivity (SCLR) and respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity (RSAR) in preschoolers' social dominance, as well as potential gender differences in these associations. Reactivity was assessed in response to viewing videos of social exclusion and a post-aggression discussion. In a community sample of 94 preschool children followed over one calendar year, reactivity to the post-aggression discussion, but not exclusion, video was related to social dominance. Specifically, increased RSAR to the post-aggression discussion video was positively associated with concurrent social dominance for both boys and girls. Longitudinally, for boys only, coactivation (i.e., increases in SCLR accompanied by increases in RSAR) to the post-aggression discussion video, which may reflect dysregulated, emotionally labile reactions to stress, was associated with relatively low levels of social dominance across the course of the year. Overall, findings contribute to a growing literature documenting the role of autonomic reactivity in preschoolers' social adjustment and extend this work to their capacity to achieve and maintain socially dominant positions with peers.

Physiological interactions are abundant within, and between, body systems. These interactions may evolve into discrete states during pathophysiological processes resulting from common mechanisms. An association between arterial stenosis, identified by low ankle-brachial pressure index (ABPI) and cardiovascular disease (CVD) as been reported. Whether an association between vascular calcification-characterized by high ABPI and a different pathophysiology-is similarly associated with CVD, has not been established. The current study aims to investigate the association between ABPI, and cardiac rhythm, as an indicator of cardiovascular health and functionality, utilizing heart rate variability (HRV).

To evaluate autonomic modulation in individuals with COPD, compared with healthy controls, via recurrence plots (RPs) and linear heart rate variability (HRV) indices.

Background: Autonomic nervous system (ANS) dysfunction has been suggested to contribute to the high prevalence of cardiovascular complications in individuals with anorexia nervosa (AN), yet has not been thoroughly investigated. The current review aimed to synthesize the evidence of basal ANS function in individuals with a current diagnosis of AN and those with a previous diagnosis who had achieved weight restoration, as compared to controls. Methods: A systematic review of nine databases was conducted and studies that were published in a peer-review journal, in English, that included at least one assessment of ANS function in individuals with a current or previous diagnosis of AN were selected. Forty-six studies were included with a total of 811 participants with a current diagnosis of AN and 123 participants with a previous diagnosis of AN. Results: ANS function was assessed through heart rate variability (n = 27), orthostatic challenge, blood pressure variability or baroreflex sensitivity (n = 11), adrenergic activity (n = 14), skin conductance level (n = 4), and pupillometry (n = 1). Individuals with AN demonstrated increased parasympathetic activity and decreased sympathetic activity, suggestive of autonomic dysregulation. Following weight restoration, autonomic function trended toward, or was equivalent to, control levels. Discussion: Autonomic dysregulation is indicated through a range of assessments in individuals with AN. Future investigations should utilize a variety of assessments together in order to conclusively establish the nature of autonomic dysfunction in AN, and following extended weight restoration. Moreover, investigation into the co-occurrence of ANS function and cardiovascular risk is required.

Dystonia musculorum (dt) is an autosomal recessive hereditary neuropathy with a characteristic uncoordinated movement and is caused by a defect in the bullous pemphigoid antigen 1 (BPAG1) gene. The neural isoform of BPAG1 is expressed in various neurons, including those in the central and peripheral nerve systems of mice. However, most previous studies on neuronal degeneration in BPAG1-deficient mice focused on peripheral sensory neurons and only limited investigation of the autonomic system has been conducted.

Autonomic dysregulation has been recently reported as a feature of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, the nature of autonomic atypicalities in ASD remain largely unknown. The goal of this study was to characterize the cardiac autonomic profile of children with ASD across four domains affected in ASD (anxiety, attention, response inhibition, and social cognition), and suggested to be affected by autonomic dysregulation.

BACKGROUND The aim of this work was to compare autonomic nervous system activity between eyes with axial and non-axial myopia and to investigate the relationship between autonomic nervous system activity and axial length (AL) in children. MATERIAL AND METHODS Seventy-eight eyes of 78 children were included in this study. Static and dynamic pupillary responses, including pupil diameter, latency, and velocity of pupil contraction and dilation, were recorded using automatic pupillometry to evaluate autonomic nervous system activity. AL was measured using the IOL-Master device. RESULTS In terms of static pupillary responses, the pupil diameter at mesopic condition (1 candelas/m²) (PD1) (4.06±0.64 vs 3.80±0.87 mm, P=0.045) and pupil diameter at low photopic condition (10 candelas/m²) (PD10) (3.40±0.49 vs 3.22±0.66 mm, P=0.046) were significantly larger in axial myopic eyes than in non-axial myopic eyes. In terms of dynamic pupillary responses, velocity of pupil contraction (Vel-C) (5.93±0.89 vs 6.75±1.60 mm/s, P=0.019) and velocity of pupil dilation (Vel-D) (2.28±0.38 vs 2.89±1.17 mm/s, P=0.002) were significantly slower in axial myopic eyes than in non-axial myopic eyes. Moreover, PD1 and PD10 were significantly and positively associated with AL, while Vel-C and Vel-D were significantly and negatively associated with AL (all P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS There was significant decrease in autonomic nervous system activity in axial myopia compared with non-axial myopia, and autonomic nervous system activity was significantly and negatively associated with AL in children. Decreases in autonomic nervous system activity in axial myopia may contribute to the excessive axial elongation in pediatric axial myopia.

Chronic myocardial infarction (MI) triggers pathological remodeling in the heart and cardiac nervous system. Abnormal function of the autonomic nervous system (ANS), including stellate ganglia (SG) and dorsal root ganglia (DRG) contribute to increased sympathoexcitation, cardiac dysfunction and arrythmogenesis. ANS modulation is a therapeutic target for arrhythmia associated with cardiac injury. However, the molecular mechanism involved in the pathological remodeling in ANS following cardiac injury remains to be established.

The main mechanism underlying irritable bowel syndrome is currently believed to be a dysfunction of the brain-gut axis. Autonomic nervous system dysfunction can contribute to development of irritable bowel syndrome symptoms by disturbing visceral sensations.

Stroke is a major cause of functional disability and is increasing in frequency. Therefore, stroke prognosis must be both accurate and timely. Among other biomarkers, heart rate variability (HRV) is investigated in terms of prognostic accuracy within stroke patients. The literature research of two databases (MEDLINE and Scopus) is performed to trace all relevant studies published within the last decade addressing the potential utility of HRV for stroke prognosis. Only the full-text articles published in English are included. In total, forty-five articles have been traced and are included in the present review. The prognostic value of biomarkers of autonomic dysfunction (AD) in terms of mortality, neurological deterioration, and functional outcome appears to be within the range of known clinical variables, highlighting their utility as prognostic tools. Moreover, they may provide additional information regarding poststroke infections, depression, and cardiac adverse events. AD biomarkers have demonstrated their utility not only in the setting of acute ischemic stroke but also in transient ischemic attack, intracerebral hemorrhage, and traumatic brain injury, thus representing a promising prognostic tool whose clinical application may greatly facilitate individualized stroke care.

In the intensive care and perioperative setting, circulation is often supported by intravenous fluid preceded by prediction of fluid responsiveness during a passive leg raising (PLR) maneuver. An increase in stroke volume (SV) or cardiac output (CO) of 10%-15% indicates that the subject may increase the flow upon volume expansion. However, the semi-recumbent position as an initial position in PLR likely reduces SV by gravitational displacement of central blood volume (CBV) to lower extremities, thereby accentuating volume responsiveness during leg raising in healthy people. Coincident with gravitational perturbations in hemodynamics, remedial changes occur in the autonomic nervous system (ANS), as expressed in spectral power in heart rate variability (HRV). This study aims to clarify these concomitant changes during PLR. A convenience number of healthy volunteers (N = 11) were recruited by advertisement in university departments. The subjects were exposed to the established PLR sequence and the heart rate (HR), mean arterial pressure (MAP), SV, and CO were sampled at 1 Hz, while electrocardiogram was recorded at 1000 Hz. Relative powers reflecting autonomic nervous system activity were assessed from spectral analysis of HRV. In response to PLR, SV increased (12.4% ± 8.7%, p < 0.0026), while HR (-7.6% ± 4.7%, p < 0.0009) and MAP (-7.6% ± 6.9%, p < 0.01) decreased, with no change in CO (4.1% ± 12.8%, ns). The HRV low-frequency component was reduced (-34%; p < 0.0095), while the high-frequency activity increased (78.5%; p < 0.0013), with a 63% decrease in the low/high frequency ratio (p < 0.0078). Thus, HRV indicated a reduced sympathetic index (semi-recumbent 0.808 vs. PLR -0.177 a.u., p < 0.001) and an increased parasympathetic index (-0.141 to 0.996 a.u., p < 0.0001). Gravitational depletion and expansion of CBV during PLR were associated with a counterregulatory autonomic response. Healthy volunteers appeared volume responsive in terms of SV, but not CO. Responses to PLR are influenced by the ANS, and HRV analysis should be included in the assessment of the PLR test.

Tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) is an emerging flaviviral zoonosis in Central and Eastern Europe. TBE can present as meningitis, meningoencephalitis, or meningoencephalomyelitis. Dysfunction of the autonomic (ANS) and peripheral motoric and sensory nervous system (PNS) might contribute to acute and long-term complications. We aimed to examine, whether the ANS and PNS are affected in acute TBE.

Research suggests that children's health and well-being are supported by core adaptive systems, including the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Despite evidence for the importance of adulthood ANS regulation in the development of disease, few studies have examined how early development may influence emerging ANS function. Therefore, we examined how infant adiposity gain during early infancy related to ANS regulation at 6 months.

Delivery is not easily predictable in horses and the consequences of dystocia can be serious for both the mare and foal. An induction protocol with low doses of oxytocin has been reported as a safe procedure. This study investigates the effect of induced delivery on at-term mares' sympathetic-vagal balance. Fourteen mares were included and divided into two groups, one subjected to spontaneous delivery (SD), and one to induced delivery (ID). In both groups, an ECG was recorded using an elastic belt with integrated smart textile electrodes. The recording started before the delivery (Basal), continued close to delivery (Pre-delivery) and during delivery (Delivery), and ended after parturition (Placental expulsion). From the ECGs, Heart Rate Variability (HRV) parameters relating to time and frequency domains and non-linear analysis were extrapolated. The HRV analysis was performed both within the same group (IntraGA) and between the two groups (InterGA). In the present study, spontaneous and induced delivery did not appear to differ in autonomic nervous system functioning. In IntraGA analysis, both for SD and ID mares, delivery and placental expulsion periods were parasympathetic dominated since vagal-related HRV parameters increased. Moreover, no differences were found in InterGA comparison between SD and ID mares, except for the pre-delivery period of ID mares, during which both branches of the autonomic nervous system were activated. These results are in line with the literature on parasympathetic dominance during parturition and no change in Heart Rate Variability following exogenous oxytocin administration in parturient mares.

Modulated autonomic responses to noxious stimulation have been reported in experimental and clinical pain. These effects are likely mediated by nociceptive sensitization, but may also, more simply reflect increased stimulus-associated arousal. To disentangle between sensitization- and arousal-mediated effects on autonomic responses to noxious input, we recorded sympathetic skin responses (SSRs) in response to 10 pinprick and heat stimuli before (PRE) and after (POST) an experimental heat pain model to induce secondary hyperalgesia (EXP) and a control model (CTRL) in 20 healthy females. Pinprick and heat stimuli were individually adapted for pain perception (4/10) across all assessments. Heart rate, heart rate variability, and skin conductance level (SCL) were assessed before, during, and after the experimental heat pain model. Both pinprick- and heat-induced SSRs habituated from PRE to POST in CTRL, but not EXP (P = 0.033). Background SCL (during stimuli application) was heightened in EXP compared with CTRL condition during pinprick and heat stimuli (P = 0.009). Our findings indicate that enhanced SSRs after an experimental pain model are neither fully related to subjective pain, as SSRs dissociated from perceptual responses, nor to nociceptive sensitization, as SSRs were enhanced for both modalities. Our findings can, however, be explained by priming of the autonomic nervous system during the experimental pain model, which makes the autonomic nervous system more susceptible to noxious input. Taken together, autonomic readouts have the potential to objectively assess not only nociceptive sensitization but also priming of the autonomic nervous system, which may be involved in the generation of distinct clinical pain phenotypes.NEW & NOTEWORTHY The facilitation of pain-induced sympathetic skin responses observed after experimentally induced central sensitization is unspecific to the stimulation modality and thereby unlikely solely driven by nociceptive sensitization. In addition, these enhanced pain-induced autonomic responses are also not related to higher stimulus-associated arousal, but rather a general priming of the autonomic nervous system. Hence, autonomic readouts may be able to detect generalized hyperexcitability in chronic pain, beyond the nociceptive system, which may contribute to clinical pain phenotypes.

The Data and Resource Center (DRC) of the NIH-funded SPARC program is developing databases, connectivity maps, and simulation tools for the mammalian autonomic nervous system. The experimental data and mathematical models supplied to the DRC by the SPARC consortium are curated, annotated and semantically linked via a single knowledgebase. A data portal has been developed that allows discovery of data and models both via semantic search and via an interface that includes Google Map-like 2D flatmaps for displaying connectivity, and 3D anatomical organ scaffolds that provide a common coordinate framework for cross-species comparisons. We discuss examples that illustrate the data pipeline, which includes data upload, curation, segmentation (for image data), registration against the flatmaps and scaffolds, and finally display via the web portal, including the link to freely available online computational facilities that will enable neuromodulation hypotheses to be investigated by the autonomic neuroscience community and device manufacturers.

We aim to investigate early developmental trajectories of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) as indexed by the pupillary light reflex (PLR) in infants with (i.e. preterm birth, feeding difficulties, or siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder) and without (controls) increased likelihood for atypical ANS development. We used eye-tracking to capture the PLR in 216 infants in a longitudinal follow-up study spanning 5 to 24 months of age, and linear mixed models to investigate effects of age and group on three PLR parameters: baseline pupil diameter, latency to constriction and relative constriction amplitude. An increase with age was found in baseline pupil diameter (F(3,273.21) = 13.15, p < 0.001, [Formula: see text] = 0.13), latency to constriction (F(3,326.41) = 3.84, p = 0.010, [Formula: see text] = 0.03) and relative constriction amplitude(F(3,282.53) = 3.70, p = 0.012, [Formula: see text] = 0.04). Group differences were found for baseline pupil diameter (F(3,235.91) = 9.40, p < 0.001, [Formula: see text] = 0.11), with larger diameter in preterms and siblings than in controls, and for latency to constriction (F(3,237.10) = 3.48, p = 0.017, [Formula: see text] = 0.04), with preterms having a longer latency than controls. The results align with previous evidence, with development over time that could be explained by ANS maturation. To better understand the cause of the group differences, further research in a larger sample is necessary, combining pupillometry with other measures to further validate its value.

In adult animals, movement and vocalizations are coordinated, sometimes facilitating, and at other times inhibiting, each other. What is missing is how these different domains of motor control become coordinated over the course of development. We investigated how postural-locomotor behaviors may influence vocal development, and the role played by physiological arousal during their interactions. Using infant marmoset monkeys, we densely sampled vocal, postural and locomotor behaviors and estimated arousal fluctuations from electrocardiographic measures of heart rate. We found that vocalizations matured sooner than postural and locomotor skills, and that vocal-locomotor coordination improved with age and during elevated arousal levels. These results suggest that postural-locomotor maturity is not required for vocal development to occur, and that infants gradually improve coordination between vocalizations and body movement through a process that may be facilitated by arousal level changes.

Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) is a procedure applied in a limb for triggering endogenous protective pathways in distant organs, namely brain or heart. The underlying mechanisms of RIC are still not fully understood, and it is hypothesized they are mediated either by humoral factors, immune cells and/or the autonomic nervous system. Herein, heart rate variability (HRV) was used to evaluate the electrophysiological processes occurring in the heart during RIC and, in turn to assess the role of autonomic nervous system.

Self-induced cognitive trance (SICT) is a voluntary non-ordinary state of consciousness characterized by a lucid yet narrowed awareness of the external surroundings. It involves a hyper-focused immersive experience of flow, expanded inner imagery, modified somatosensory processing, and an altered perception of self and time. SICT is gaining attention due to its potential clinical applications. Similar states of non-ordinary state of consciousness, such as meditation, hypnosis, and psychedelic experiences, have been reported to induce changes in the autonomic nervous system. However, the functioning of the autonomic nervous system during SICT remains poorly understood. In this study, we aimed to investigate the impact of SICT on the cardiac and respiratory signals of 25 participants proficient in SICT. To accomplish this, we measured various metrics of heart rate variability (HRV) and respiration rate variability (RRV) in three conditions: resting state, SICT, and a mental imagery task. Subsequently, we employed a machine learning framework utilizing a linear discriminant analysis classifier and a cross-validation scheme to identify the features that exhibited the best discrimination between these three conditions. The results revealed that during SICT, participants experienced an increased heart rate and a decreased level of high-frequency (HF) HRV compared to the control conditions. Additionally, specific increases in respiratory amplitude, phase ratio, and RRV were observed during SICT in comparison to the other conditions. These findings suggest that SICT is associated with a reduction in parasympathetic activity, indicative of a hyperarousal state of the autonomic nervous system during SICT.