Brain tumour necrosis factor- modulates neurotransmitters in hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus in heart failure

Increased proinflammatory cytokines after myocardial infarction augment the progression of heart failure (HF) and are of prognostic significance. Recently, we demonstrated that increased proinflammatory cytokines in the brains of HF rats increased paraventricular nucleus (PVN) superoxide and down-regulated neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), contributing to sympathoexcitation. In this study, we explored the possible roles of brain proinflammatory cytokines and their effects on modulating PVN neurotransmitters in the exaggerated sympathetic activity in HF.