Successful stimulation of myocardial ganglionic plexuses by TAU 20 in the absence of cardiac damage
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a major healthcare burden worldwide. The standard invasive treatment for AF that is resistant to pharmacological intervention is a pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) procedure. Ganglionated plexus (GP) ablation can be used as an adjunctive therapy to PVIs, which together reduce the likelihood of AF recurrence. High-frequency stimulation (HFS) is a technique used to identify ectopy-triggering GP sites. However, to locate GP sites, sequential HFS must be delivered over the whole atria. Therefore, ensuring the safety of HFS delivery is integral to avoid irreversible damage from excessive pacing. We tested the Tau-20 version 2 neural simulator, a prototype of a custom-built novel electrophysiological pacing and recording system (patent reference: ASW100372P.EPP) that has the potential to guide intracardiac AF treatments. Using an ex vivo porcine Langendorff model that closely resembles the anatomy and physiology of a human heart, we confirmed that HFS can successfully trigger AF, suggesting that HFS-positive locations contain GP sites. Additionally, we found that HFS delivered via Tau-20 version 2 did not cause any damage to the heart. These findings are evidence that once fully optimized, the Tau-20 system could be suitable for use in clinical settings.
Date Issued
2025-03-28
Date Acceptance
2025-02-26
Citation
Frontiers in Physiology, 2025, 16
ISSN
1664-042X
Publisher
Frontiers Media S.A.
Journal / Book Title
Frontiers in Physiology
Volume
16
Copyright Statement
© 2025 Li, Kay, Agha-Jaffar, Gao, Perkins, Koutsoftidis, Drakakis, Cantwell, Wang, Kanagaratnam and Chowdhury. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
License URL
Identifier
10.3389/fphys.2025.1536362
Subjects
atrial fibrillation
ganglionated plexi
high-frequency stimulation
Tau-20
Langendorff
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
1536362
Date Publish Online
2025-03-28