Fig. 2From: Carotid body chemoreceptors, sympathetic neural activation, and cardiometabolic diseaseCarotid Body denervation reduced myocardial fibrosis and cardiac arrhythmias and improved survival in heart failure rats. a Rats with chronic heart failure (CHF) and with CHF and carotid body denervation (eCBD) displayed tissue fibrosis in noninfarcted areas. The left ventricle (LV) freewall and the interventricular septum (IVS) obtained from CHF rats showed a marked collagen deposition. Selective eCBD significantly reduced cardiac fibrosis in the LV-freewall and in the IVS. b Representative tachograms showing arrhythmic episodes in a CHF rat and a marked decreased in the arrhythmic events in CHF+eCBD rat. c Rats that underwent eCBD showed reduced mortality rate compared to CHF rats with functional CBs. Modified from Del Rio et al. [10], with permission of ElsevierBack to article page