After a Heart Attack, the Brain’s Response Might Make Recovery Harder. Cutting Some Communication Between the Organs Could Help

The new study in mice could lead to innovative treatments for heart attacks

Sara Hashemi | Daily Correspondent

January 29, 2026

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Heart disease is a leading cause of death across the globe. In the United States, someone suffers a heart attack every 40 seconds.

Now, new research in mice suggests that after such an event, the heart sends signals to the brain, which triggers inflammation and sends return signals back to the heart—and turning off parts of the looping pathway seems to speed up recovery. The findings, published January 27 in the journal Cell, might lead to innovative treatments for heart attacks.

“This research is another great example highlighting that we cannot look at one organ and its disease in isolation,” says Wolfram Poller, an interventional cardiologist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School who was not involved in the work, to Alessio Cozzolino at Science News. “And it opens the door to new therapeutic strategies and targets that go beyond the heart.”

A heart attack happens when the organ suddenly stops receiving enough blood, usually because of a blockage in one of the coronary arteries. Without the vital liquid, the heart can become damaged and begin to die.

Additionally, past research suggests that the nervous and immune systems can increase inflammation and slow healing, but exactly how this works has remained unclear, study co-author Vineet Augustine, a neurobiologist at the University of California, San Diego, tells Science News.

So, he and his colleagues induced heart attacks in mice and examined responses in the vagus nerve, which carries signals between the brain, heart and digestive system. After a heart attack, vagus nerve fibers containing certain cells, called TRPV1-expressing neurons, wrapped around the injured area of the heart, the team found.

Then, they turned off those neurons. Doing so led to improvements in cardiac pumping and heart health. Additionally, “the injured area becomes really, really small,” Augustine tells Chiara Marchisio at New Scientist. “The recovery was remarkable.”

Tracing how signals from those nerve fibers travel to the brain revealed that they first reach a brain region important for regulating heart rate and blood pressure. From there, messages go to a group of nerve cells at the top of the neck, which become inflamed after a heart attack and send signals back to the heart. Again, blocking inflammation there seemed to boost recovery from a heart attack.  

“The findings in this paper are quite impressive,” says Cameron McAlpine, a neuroimmunologist at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai who was not involved in the study, to NPR’s Esther Landhuis.

The researchers are now looking into the mechanisms underlying the newfound heart-brain-immune system loop, which could lead to innovations in cardiac medicine, per a statement.

“Current treatments for heart attacks focus on repairing the heart, including bypass surgery, angioplasty and blood thinners, which are all invasive,” Augustine says in the statement. “This research is showing that, perhaps by manipulating the immune system, we can drive a therapeutic response.”

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Sara Hashemi is a science writer and fact-checker currently based in New York City. Her work has appeared in Sierra, The Body, Maisonneuve magazine and more.