Heart nerves: mapping how the heart’s sensing nerves connect in health and diabetes
Official title: Vagal and spinal afferent mapping of rat and human hearts in health and disease
Funded at University of Central Florida · NIH-11414963 · Data updated 2026-11-12
This project maps the nerve pathways that sense heart signals in healthy and diabetic hearts to identify targets for therapies that could reduce heart injury.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Central Florida NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Orlando, United States) |
| Project start | September 12, 2025 |
| Project end | June 30, 2030 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $683,859 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL173868-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11414963 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with or at risk for heart disease and/or diabetes who may in the future benefit from therapies targeting cardiac sensory nerves.
✕Less likely to help
Healthy individuals without heart disease or diabetes are unlikely to directly benefit from this mechanistic mapping study.
What this research studies
Researchers will map the nerves that carry sensory information from the heart to the brain in rats, comparing healthy and diabetes-affected hearts. They will distinguish different nerve types, such as those that respond to touch/volume (mechanosensitive) versus pain-like signals (nociceptive), and see how diabetes changes these patterns. The study will also adapt these techniques to study human hearts using tissue models, and combine the anatomical data with three-dimensional heart scaffolds to visualize the nerve networks. Findings could guide future strategies to modulate specific heart nerves and potentially improve cardiac function in disease.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: A better understanding of heart nerve pathways could lead to targeted therapies that protect the heart and improve function in people with diabetes or heart disease.
How similar studies have gone: Previous work has shown that detailed mapping of cardiac nerves is feasible and informative for targeting therapies, though translating to humans remains a challenge.
Where this research is happening
-
University of Central Florida
Orlando, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Cheng, Zixi Jack — University of Central Florida
- Study coordinator: Cheng, Zixi Jack
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.