What can we learn about neural control of the cardiovascular system by studying rhythms in sympathetic nerve activity?

Since the first recordings of sympathetic nerve activity in the 1930s, it was very clear that the activity was organized into bursts synchronized to the respiratory and cardiac cycles. Since the early studies, evidence has accumulated showing that sympathetic neural networks are quite complex and generate a variety of periodicities that range between ~ 0.04 and 10 Hz, depending on the physiological state, type of nerve being analyzed, age of the subject, and the species. Despite the ubiquity of sympathetic rhythms, many investigators have failed to consider this oscillatory characteristic of sympathetic nerve activity and instead rely on simply quantifying changes in the level of activity to make decisions about the role of the sympathetic nervous system in mediating certain behaviors. This review highlights work that shows the importance of including an assessment of the frequency characteristics of sympathetic nerve activity.