ATP's Impact on the Heart and Blood Vessels

ATP's powerful impact on the heart and blood vessels was first described in 1929, but it was not until the 1970s that ATP was proposed as the purinergic neurotransmitter in autonomic nerves.

The door to this area of research was thrown open when receptors for ATP and its ectoenzymatic breakdown product adenosine were first cloned in the early 1990s.