Morphological comparison of the cardiac autonomic nervous system between normal and abnormal great arterial branching pattern with a brief review of the literature.

Information on the topological relationship between arterial and peripheral autonomic nervous systems is insufficient for application to other research fields as each system has been analyzed separately during a long anatomical history. In the present study, we scrutinized the topological changes in the cardiac autonomic nervous system (CANS) in cadavers with a normal great arterial branching pattern of the aortic arch and in those with an anomalous left vertebral artery. These results were then compared with our previous report on cadavers with a retroesophageal right subclavian artery, and we attempted to consider the possible morphological causal principles of the changes. This report would be useful not only for morphological research but also to improve cardiac treatment and animal experiments. Although the CANS shift was considered when a great arterial branching anomaly appeared, additional cardiac nerves along the anomalous artery were found in addition to the normal CANS composition, based on our present and previous anomalous reports. From both developmental and anatomical viewpoints, CANS may depend on the surrounding arterial system. Therefore, a detailed analysis of the peripheral autonomic nervous system with its surrounding structures, especially the arterial system, has filled the gap between morphological and molecular embryological research in addition to the clinical significance in cardiac surgery, the understanding of experimental results, and the application to cardiac functions.