2022 Volume 39 Issue 3 Pages 132-139
It has been independently reported that cardiomyocytes possess a system to synthesize acetylcholine (ACh), which is called non-neuronal ACh, and therefore, this system in the heart is named as the non-neuronal cardiac cholinergic system (NNCCS). This system is involved in many cardiac physiological aspects including cardiac homeostasis, for example, negative regulation of oxygen consumption, enhancement of glucose preference as a cardiac energy substrate, acceleration of angiogenesis, and upregulation of gap junction function etc., in other words, enhancement of resilience against damages by ischemia or hypoxia in the heart. In this review, we provide the history of establishment of the concept of NNCCS, significant findings of NNCCS functions, the pathogenic roles in impairment of NNCCS, the link between NNCCS and extra-cardiac organs through the vagus nerve, and its influences on extra-cardiac organ functions.
