Epigenetic mechanisms affecting heart rate variability

Abstract

Background: Heart rate variability (HRV) is a reliable indicator of the many physiological factors affecting the heart. So our research aim was to investigate factors affecting HRV and their epigenetic mechanisms.Methods: We recruited 23 non-smoking female elders. Their HRVs were repeatedly measured using an automated HRV analyzer. Total RNA was isolated from blood samples collected every visits and used for epigenome-wide miRNA measurements. We evaluated relationships between miRNA levels and two HRV indicators, standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN) and the root mean square of successive differences (RMSSD). Results: Three miRNAs (miR-1255b-5p, miR-155-5p, and miR-411-5p) were positively associated with both SDNN and RMSSD. (p<0.05 for relations with all 3 miRNAs). The predicted target genes of 3 miRNAs were found to be related with various disease classes including metabolic, cardiovascular and chemdependency. Furthermore, KEGG pathways on pathways in cancer (hsa05200), PI3K-Akt signaling pathway (hsa04151) and HTLV-I infection (hsa05166) in order of precedence were related with HRV. Conclusions: Our study results suggest a potential that HRV modifies epigenetic mechanisms, resulting in a variety of diseases.