Nerve regeneration in transplanted organs and tracer imaging studies: A review

Abstract

The technique of organ transplantation is well established and after transplantation the patient might be faced with the problem of nerve regeneration of the transplanted organ. Transplanted organs are innervated by the sympathetic, parasympathetic, and visceral sensory plexuses, but there is a lack of clarity regarding the neural influences on the heart, liver and kidneys and the mechanisms of their innervation. Although there has been considerable recent work exploring the potential mechanisms of nerve regeneration in organ transplantation, there remains much that is unknown about the heterogeneity and individual variability in the reinnervation of organ transplantation. The widespread availability of radioactive nerve tracers has also made a significant contribution to organ transplantation and has helped to investigate nerve recovery after transplantation, as well as providing a direction for future organ transplantation research. In this review we focused on neural tracer imaging techniques in humans and provide some conceptual insights into theories that can effectively support our choice of radionuclide tracers. This also facilitates the development of nuclear medicine techniques and promotes the development of modern medical technologies and computer tools. We described the knowledge of neural regeneration after heart transplantation, liver transplantation and kidney transplantation and apply them to various imaging techniques to quantify the uptake of radionuclide tracers to assess the prognosis of organ transplantation. We noted that the aim of this review is both to provide clinicians and nuclear medicine researchers with theories and insights into nerve regeneration in organ transplantation and to advance imaging techniques and radiotracers as a major step forward in clinical research. Moreover, we aimed to further promote the clinical and research applications of imaging techniques and provide clinicians and research technology developers with the theory and knowledge of the nerve.

Editorial: Current trends in the crosstalk between nervous systems and other body systems

“…The key role of the nervous system in the control of many involuntary reflexes and reactions to other body systems is generally accepted. Due to the emergence of radiologically targeted neuroimaging technology and neurotropic virus-based transneuronal tracers in recent years, the access to neural connectivity in the other body systems has greatly been improved (Fan et al, 2020 ; Feng et al, 2020 ; Huang et al, 2022a ). A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the crosstalk between nervous systems and other body systems may have important implications for the treatment of body injury, age-associated decline, and diseases.…”

“…The high incidence of patients with neural circuit-related diseases such as mental disorders, highlights the importance of fundamental research, among others with interventions stimulating adaptive neuroplasticity. Trans synaptic viral tract-tracing in the toolbox of neural labeling methods has been a significant development in the skeletal musclebrain crosstalk (Huang et al, 2022b). A study by Liu et al aimed to identify that the basolateral amygdala mediated central mechanosensory feedback of musculoskeletal system.…”