autonomic

Music can activate our autonomic nervous system and even cause shivers down the spine.

"That may mean that we may be actually inducing a form of plastic effect on the brain-body interaction circuit that is also involved in autonomic functions like blood pressure and heart rate," Romo-Nava said.

"Our future research will search for ways to block these complications and protect the adrenal gland from receiving 'false' autonomic nervous system information originating from the spinal cord below the lesion site."

In a promising development, a research group has revealed that stimulating autonomic vagal nerves connected to the pancreas can improve the function and also increase the number of pancreatic β-cells in mice.

"So it stands to reason that the communication between the autonomic nervous and immune systems determines whether heart muscle scarring will occur or whether the heart muscle can recover."