Bio

Dr. Jeffrey Ardell is the Director of the UCLA Neurocardiology Center for Excellence. Previously, he was Professor of Biomedical Sciences and Vice Chair for Research at the Quillen College of Medicine in Johnson City, Tennessee. Dr. Ardell received his doctorate at the University of Washington, with post-doctoral training at Michigan State University and at Loyola University. He is a fellow of the American Heart Association and has been one of the principal investigators in the field of neurocardiology for the last three decades. Dr. Ardell has served on multiple national research and advisory committees for the National Institutes of Health, Veterans Administration and the American Heart Association. He received the ETSU Distinguished Faculty Award for Research in 2007.

Research Interests

My interest in what is now emerging as the field of neurocardiology began in the laboratory of Dr. Walter Randall. In collaboration with Dr. Randall and then with Dr. Armour, we first defined primary elements of the intrinsic cardiac nervous system and then how they interacted together to control regional cardiac function in the normal heart. Our subsequent work demonstrated that the progression of cardiac disease reflects maladaptive interactions that occur between the heart and neurohumoral control. Our recent work has demonstrated that targeting select elements within the cardiac nervous system can lead to efficacious results in select cardiac disease states including myocardial ischemia/infarction, atrial arrhythmias and congestive heart failure. With appropriate neuro-modulation therapy, myocytes are rendered stress resistance, autonomic responsiveness for control of the heart is preserved, and the potential for fatal arrhythmias if reduced. Such work has already found clinical applications in treatment of angina (e.g. spinal cord stimulation), congestive heart failure (e.g. vagal nerve stimulation), VT storms (decentralization of stellate ganglia from CNS), and in management of atrial arrhythmias (traditional RF ablation with concurrent disruption of elements of the ICNS).

Publications

  • Buckley Una, Shivkumar Kalyanam, Ardell Jeffrey L Autonomic Regulation Therapy in Heart Failure. Current heart failure reports. 2015; 12(4): 284-93.
  • Buckley Una, Yamakawa Kentaro, Takamiya Tatsuo, Armour J Andrew, Shivkumar Kalyanam, Ardell Jeffrey L Targeted Stellate Decentralization: Implications for Sympathetic Control of Ventricular Electrophysiology.Heart rhythm : the official journal of the Heart Rhythm Society. 2015; .
  • Beaumont Eric, Southerland Elizabeth Marie, Hardwick Jean C, Wright Gary L, Ryan Shannon, Li Ying, KenKnight Bruce H, Armour John Andrew, Ardell Jeffrey Laurence Vagus nerve stimulation mitigates intrinsic cardiac neuronal and adverse myocyte remodeling post myocardial infarction. American journal of physiology. Heart and circulatory physiology. 2015; ajpheart.00393.2015.
  • Hardwick Jean C, Ryan Shannon E, Powers Emily N, Southerland E Marie, Ardell Jeffrey L Angiotensin receptors alter myocardial infarction-induced remodeling of the guinea pig cardiac plexus. American journal of physiology. Regulatory, integrative and comparative physiology. 2015; 309(2): R179-88.
  • Fukuda Keiichi, Kanazawa Hideaki, Aizawa Yoshiyasu, Ardell Jeffrey L, Shivkumar Kalyanam Cardiac innervation and sudden cardiac death. Circulation research. 2015; 116(12): 2005-19.
  • Ajijola Olujimi A, Yagishita Daigo, Reddy Naveen K, Yamakawa Kentaro, Vaseghi Marmar, Downs Anthony M, Hoover Donald B, Ardell Jeffrey L, Shivkumar Kalyanam Remodeling of stellate ganglion neurons after spatially targeted myocardial infarction: Neuropeptide and morphologic changes. Heart rhythm : the official journal of the Heart Rhythm Society. 2015; 12(5): 1027-35.
  • Ardell Jeffrey L, Cardinal René, Beaumont Eric, Vermeulen Michel, Smith Frank M, Andrew Armour J Chronic spinal cord stimulation modifies intrinsic cardiac synaptic efficacy in the suppression of atrial fibrillation. Autonomic neuroscience : basic & clinical. 2014; 186(5): 38-44.
  • Premchand Rajendra K, Sharma Kamal, Mittal Sanjay, Monteiro Rufino, Dixit Satyajit, Libbus Imad, DiCarlo Lorenzo A, Ardell Jeffrey L, Rector Thomas S, Amurthur Badri, KenKnight Bruce H, Anand Inder S autonomic regulation therapy via left or right cervical vagus nerve stimulation in patients with chronic heart failure: results of the ANTHEM-HF trial. Journal of cardiac failure. 2014; 20(11): 808-16.
  • Hardwick Jean C, Ryan Shannon E, Beaumont Eric, Ardell Jeffrey L, Southerland E Marie Dynamic remodeling of the guinea pig intrinsic cardiac plexus induced by chronic myocardial infarction. Autonomic neuroscience : basic & clinical. 2014; 181(11): 4-12.
  • Longpré Jean-Philippe, Salavatian Siamak, Beaumont Eric, Armour J Andrew, Ardell Jeffrey L, Jacquemet Vincent Measure of synchrony in the activity of intrinsic cardiac neurons. Physiological measurement. 2014; 35(4): 549-66.