# @themacrosift on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/DXfeqlYgblK
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/64581208-themacrosift-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/f2d68e9cd0.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-04-23T23:04:00.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** The Macro Sift | Exponential Tech (@themacrosift) — https://gondola.cc/themacrosift

## Caption

🔎 Neurons in the Heart

Neurons aren’t just in the brain—they’re in the heart, too! Researchers working with mice found the neurons in their hearts can induce rapid changes in their blood pressure. Scientists think these sensitive cells might help elevate your blood pressure when you stand to prevent you from fainting.
 
How it works: A protein called PIEZO2 converts pressure on cell membranes into nerve signals, and neurons that express this protein are wrapped around both mouse and human heart chambers. The researchers rotated mice from horizontal to upright, like a person standing up from a chair, and monitored their vitals. In mice with deactivated PIEZO2 neurons, their blood pressure couldn’t rise to compensate for the posture change. When the researchers induced hemorrhaging in the mice, the PIEZO2 neurons acted long before other sensors in the arteries—suggesting that these proteins sense blood volume directly. 
 
What the experts say: These heart neurons remain mysterious, even after these new insights. There are at least six different neuron types in the cardiovascular system, and we still don’t know the function of three of them. “We want to know how they work,” says senior author Stephen Liberles, a molecular neuroscientist at Harvard University. “There’s a lot to do.” —Emma Gometz, newsletter editor
~Scientific American

#Heart #Neurons

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## Tags

neurons, heart

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