Vagal nerve activity recording in the awake condition for the control of an artificial heart system

To detect useful information for an artificial heart control system, we pai d attention to the autonomic nervous system. For stable recording, we used vagal nerve activity in chronic animal experiments using healthy adult goat s in an awake condition because this nerve was sufficiently bold and large enough. Vagal nerve discharges were successfully recorded from awake goats. They were synchronized with respiration and responded to the hemodynamic c hanges induced by drug administration, suggesting that they may provide use ful information for an artificial heart control algorithm. For automatic co ntrol, some time delay plays a vitally important role. Thus, predictive con trol for an artificial heart system may be desirable. It may be embodied by the use of autonomic nerve information.