Skip to main content
Log in

Interaktionen zwischen Gehirn und Herz

Interactions between the brain and heart

  • Leitthema
  • Published:
Der Nervenarzt Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Zusammenfassung

Gehirn und Herz stehen eng miteinander in Verbindung. Das Gehirn übt einen physiologischen Einfluss auf das Herz aus. Ein Beispiel für diesen physiologischen Einfluss ist die Kontrolle der Herzfrequenz durch Efferenzen des autonomen Nervensystems. Klinische Beispiele für diese Richtung der Interaktion stellen unter anderem kardiale Komplikationen nach Schlaganfällen sowie die Takotsubo-Kardiomyopathie dar. Herz und Gehirn stehen jedoch bidirektional in Verbindung, sodass auch die Herzaktivität über ihre Funktion als Generator eines Blutstroms zur Versorgung des Gehirns hinaus ihren Einfluss auf das Gehirn ausübt. Beispiele hierfür sind die Wahrnehmung von Stimuli in Abhängigkeit von der Präsentation während des Herzzyklus. Klinische Beispiele für diese Richtung der Interaktion stellen Schlaganfälle als thrombembolische Komplikation des Vorhofflimmerns sowie die Vergesellschaftung von Vorhofflimmern und Demenz dar. In diesem Review soll ein Überblick über die bidirektionalen Interaktionen zwischen Herz und Gehirn, teilweise unter Einbeziehung des Herz-Kreislauf-Systems, gegeben werden, ihre Bedeutung für den Klinikalltag diskutiert und ein Ausblick auf aktuelle Forschungsfelder gegeben werden.

Abstract

The brain and heart are closely interconnected. Physiologically, the brain influences the way the heart beats. An example for this physiological influence is the control of the heart rate via efferences of the autonomic nervous system. Clinical examples for this direction of interactions include cardiac complications after stroke as well as takotsubo cardiomyopathy; however, the heart and brain are reciprocally connected so that heart activity also influences the brain beyond its function as the generator of bloodflow supplying the brain. Examples for this are the perception of stimuli depending on the time of presentation during the heart cycle. Clinical examples of the direction of this interaction constitute stroke as a thromboembolic complication of atrial fibrillation as well as the correlation of atrial fibrillation and dementia. This review article gives an overview of the bidirectional interactions between the heart and brain, partly including the cardiovascular system, discusses their implications for the clinical routine and gives an outlook on current fields of research.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Abb. 1
Abb. 2

Literatur

  1. Alosco ML, Hayes SM (2015) Structural brain alterations in heart failure: a review of the literature and implications for risk of Alzheimer’s disease. Heart Fail Rev 20(5):561–571

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Anderson AK (2005) Affective influences on the attentional dynamics supporting awareness. J Exp Psychol Gen 134(2):258–281

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Babo-Rebelo M, Richter CG, Tallon-Baudry C (2016) Neural responses to heartbeats in the default network encode the self in spontaneous thoughts. J Neurosci 36(30):7829–7840

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Benarroch EE (1993) The central autonomic network: functional organization, dysfunction, and perspective. Mayo Clin Proc 68(10):988–1001

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Benenati S, Canale C, De Marzo V et al (2020) Atrial fibrillation and Alzheimer disease: a conundrum. Eur J Clin Invest. https://doi.org/10.1111/eci.13451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Braak H, Rüb U, Gai WP et al (2003) Idiopathic Parkinson’s disease: possible routes by which vulnerable neuronal types may be subject to neuroinvasion by an unknown pathogen. J Neural Transm 110(5):517–536

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Bunch TJ, May HT, Bair TL et al (2016) Atrial fibrillation patients treated with long-term warfarin anticoagulation have higher rates of all dementia types compared with patients receiving long-term warfarin for other indications. JAHA 5(7):e3932. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.116.003932

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  8. Cacciatore F, Testa G, Langellotto A et al (2012) Role of ventricular rate response on dementia in cognitively impaired elderly subjects with atrial fibrillation: a 10-year study. Dement Geriatr Cogn Disord 34(3-4):143–148

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Cenit MC, Sanz Y, Codoñer-Franch P (2017) Influence of gut microbiota on neuropsychiatric disorders. World J Gastroenterol 23(30):5486–5498

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  10. Conen D, Rodondi N, Müller A et al (2019) Relationships of overt and silent brain lesions with cognitive function in patients with atrial fibrillation. J Am Coll Cardiol 73(9):989–999

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Costagliola G, Orsini A, Coll M et al (2021) The brain-heart interaction in epilepsy: implications for diagnosis, therapy, and SUDEP prevention. Ann Clin Transl Neurol. https://doi.org/10.1002/acn3.51382

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  12. Fialho GL, Wolf P, Walz R et al (2019) Epilepsy and ultra-structural heart changes: the role of catecholaminergic toxicity and myocardial fibrosis. What can we learn from cardiology? Seizure 71:105–109

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Fox KCR, Nijeboer S, Dixon ML et al (2014) Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric neuroimaging in meditation practitioners. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 43:48–73

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  14. Garfinkel SN, Barrett AB, Minati L et al (2013) What the heart forgets: cardiac timing influences memory for words and is modulated by metacognition and interoceptive sensitivity. Psychophysiology 50(6):505–512

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  15. Goldstein DS, Pechnik S, Holmes C et al (2003) Association between supine hypertension and orthostatic hypotension in autonomic failure. Hypertension 42(2):136–142

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Havakuk O, King KS, Grazette L et al (2017) Heart failure-induced brain injury. J Am Coll Cardiol 69(12):1609–1616

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Janszky I, Hallqvist J, Tomson T et al (2009) Increased risk and worse prognosis of myocardial infarction in patients with prior hospitalization for epilepsy—the Stockholm heart epidemiology program. Brain 132(Pt 10):2798–2804

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  18. Jose AD, Collison D (1970) The normal range and determinants of the intrinsic heart rate in man. Cardiovasc Res 4(2):160–167

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Kern M, Aertsen A, Schulze-Bonhage A et al (2013) Heart cycle-related effects on event-related potentials, spectral power changes, and connectivity patterns in the human ECoG. Neuroimage 81:178–190

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Kim D, Yang P‑S, Sung J‑H et al (2020) Less dementia after catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation: a nationwide cohort study. Eur Heart J 41(47):4483–4493

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Korantzopoulos P, Kalantzi K, Siogas K et al (2008) Long-term prognostic value of baseline C‑reactive protein in predicting recurrence of atrial fibrillation after electrical cardioversion. Pacing Clin Electrophysiol 31(10):1272–1276

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Krause T, Werner K, Fiebach JB et al (2017) Stroke in right dorsal anterior insular cortex Is related to myocardial injury. Ann Neurol 81(4):502–511

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Leto L, Feola M (2014) Cognitive impairment in heart failure patients. J Geriatr Cardiol 11(4):316–328

    CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  24. Levine GN, Lange RA, Bairey-Merz CN et al (2017) Meditation and cardiovascular risk reduction: a scientific statement from the American heart association. J Am Heart Assoc 6(10):e2218. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.117.002218

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  25. Longstreth WT, Manolio TA, Arnold A et al (1996) Clinical correlates of white matter findings on cranial magnetic resonance imaging of 3301 elderly people. The cardiovascular health study. Stroke 27(8):1274–1282

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  26. Mahmood SS, Levy D, Vasan RS et al (2014) The Framingham heart study and the epidemiology of cardiovascular disease: a historical perspective. Lancet 383(9921):999–1008

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  27. Matsubayashi K, Okumiya K, Wada T et al (1997) Postural dysregulation in systolic blood pressure is associated with worsened scoring on neurobehavioral function tests and leukoaraiosis in the older elderly living in a community. Stroke 28(11):2169–2173

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. McDonald C, Newton JL, Burn DJ (2016) Orthostatic hypotension and cognitive impairment in Parkinson’s disease: causation or association? Mov Disord 31(7):937–946

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Mochmann H‑C, Scheitz JF, Petzold GC et al (2016) Coronary angiographic findings in acute ischemic stroke patients with elevated cardiac troponin: the troponin elevation in acute ischemic stroke (TRELAS) study. Circulation 133(13):1264–1271

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Moghimi N, Lhatoo SD (2013) Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy or voodoo heart: analysis of heart/brain connections. Curr Cardiol Rep 15(12):424

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  31. Mueller K, Thiel F, Beutner F et al (2020) Brain damage with heart failure: cardiac biomarker alterations and gray matter decline. Circ Res 126(6):750–764

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  32. Murase S, Inui K, Nosaka S (1994) Baroreceptor inhibition of the locus coeruleus noradrenergic neurons. Neuroscience 61(3):635–643

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  33. Nei M, Ho RT, Abou-Khalil BW et al (2004) EEG and ECG in sudden unexplained death in epilepsy. Epilepsia 45(4):338–345

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  34. Nishijima H, Ueno T, Kon T et al (2017) Effects of duloxetine on motor and mood symptoms in Parkinson’s disease: an open-label clinical experience. J Neurol Sci 375:186–189

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  35. Nolte CH, von Rennenberg R, Litmeier S et al (2020) PRediction of acute coronary syndrome in acute ischemic StrokE (PRAISE)—protocol of a prospective, multicenter trial with central reading and predefined endpoints. BMC Neurol 20(1):318

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  36. Palma J‑A, Benarroch EE (2014) Neural control of the heart: recent concepts and clinical correlations. Neurology 83(3):261–271

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  37. Park H‑D, Bernasconi F, Salomon R et al (2018) Neural sources and underlying mechanisms of neural responses to heartbeats, and their role in bodily self-consciousness: an intracranial EEG study. Cereb Cortex 28(7):2351–2364

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  38. Park H‑D, Blanke O (2019) Heartbeat-evoked cortical responses: underlying mechanisms, functional roles, and methodological considerations. Neuroimage 197:502–511

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  39. Park H‑D, Tallon-Baudry C (2014) The neural subjective frame: from bodily signals to perceptual consciousness. Philos Trans R Soc Lond, B, Biol Sci 369(1641):20130208

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Sambati L, Calandra-Buonaura G, Doria A et al (2015) Diagnosis and management of autonomic failure in neurodegenerative disorders. Eur Neurol 73(1-2):126–133

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  41. Silva AR, Magalhães R, Arantes C et al (2019) Brain functional connectivity is altered in patients with Takotsubo syndrome. Sci Rep 9(1):4187

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  CAS  Google Scholar 

  42. Tallon-Baudry C, Campana F, Park H‑D et al (2018) The neural monitoring of visceral inputs, rather than attention, accounts for first-person perspective in conscious vision. Cortex 102:139–149

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  43. Templin C, Ghadri JR, Diekmann J et al (2015) Clinical features and outcomes of Takotsubo (stress) cardiomyopathy. N Engl J Med 373(10):929–938

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  44. Thayer JF (2007) What the heart says to the brain (and vice versa) and why we should listen. Psihologijske Teme 16:241–250

    Google Scholar 

  45. Thayer JF, Ahs F, Fredrikson M et al (2012) A meta-analysis of heart rate variability and neuroimaging studies: implications for heart rate variability as a marker of stress and health. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 36(2):747–756

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  46. Thayer JF, Lane RD (2009) Claude Bernard and the heart-brain connection: further elaboration of a model of neurovisceral integration. Neurosci Biobehav Rev 33(2):81–88

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  47. Wittstein IS, Thiemann DR, Lima JAC et al (2005) Neurohumoral features of myocardial stunning due to sudden emotional stress. N Engl J Med 352(6):539–548

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jan Liman.

Ethics declarations

Interessenkonflikt

S. Deking und J. Liman geben an, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Für diesen Beitrag wurden von den Autoren keine Studien an Menschen oder Tieren durchgeführt. Für die aufgeführten Studien gelten die jeweils dort angegebenen ethischen Richtlinien.

Additional information

figure qr

QR-Code scannen & Beitrag online lesen

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Deking, S., Liman, J. Interaktionen zwischen Gehirn und Herz. Nervenarzt 92, 977–985 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00115-021-01170-5

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00115-021-01170-5

Schlüsselwörter

Keywords

Navigation