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Intermittent electrical stimulation of the right cervical vagus nerve in salt-sensitive hypertensive rats: effects on blood pressure, arrhythmias, and ventricular electrophysiology.

ABSTRACT: Hypertension (HTN) is the single greatest risk factor for potentially fatal cardiovascular diseases. One cause of HTN is inappropriately increased sympathetic nervous system activity, suggesting that restoring the autonomic nervous balance may be an effective means of HTN treatment. Here, we studied the potential of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) to treat chronic HTN and cardiac arrhythmias through stimulation of the right cervical vagus nerve in hypertensive rats. Dahl salt-sensitive rats (n = 12) were given a high salt diet to induce HTN. After 6 weeks, rats were randomized into two groups: HTN-Sham and HTN-VNS, in which VNS was provided to HTN-VNS group for 4 weeks. In vivo blood pressure and electrocardiogram activities were monitored continuously by an implantable telemetry system. After 10 weeks, rats were euthanized and their hearts were extracted for ex vivo electrophysiological studies using high-resolution optical mapping. Six weeks of high salt diet significantly increased both mean arterial pressure (MAP) and pulse pressure, demonstrating successful induction of HTN in all rats. After 4 weeks of VNS treatment, the increase in MAP and the number of arrhythmia episodes in HTN-VNS rats was significantly attenuated when compared to those observed in HTN-Sham rats. VNS treatment also induced changes in electrophysiological properties of the heart, such as reduction in action potential duration (APD) during rapid drive pacing, slope of APD restitution, spatial dispersion of APD, and increase in conduction velocity of impulse propagation. Overall, these results provide further evidence for the therapeutic efficacy of VNS in HTN and HTN-related heart diseases.

SUBMITTER: Annoni EM

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4562562 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Intermittent electrical stimulation of the right cervical vagus nerve in salt-sensitive hypertensive rats: effects on blood pressure, arrhythmias, and ventricular electrophysiology.

Annoni Elizabeth M EM Xie Xueyi X Lee Steven W SW Libbus Imad I KenKnight Bruce H BH Osborn John W JW Tolkacheva Elena G EG

Physiological reports 20150801 8

Hypertension (HTN) is the single greatest risk factor for potentially fatal cardiovascular diseases. One cause of HTN is inappropriately increased sympathetic nervous system activity, suggesting that restoring the autonomic nervous balance may be an effective means of HTN treatment. Here, we studied the potential of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) to treat chronic HTN and cardiac arrhythmias through stimulation of the right cervical vagus nerve in hypertensive rats. Dahl salt-sensitive rats (n = 1 ...[more]

PMID: 26265746

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Project description:Background: Left cervical vagus nerve stimulation (l-VNS) is an FDA-approved treatment for neurological disorders including epilepsy, major depressive disorder, and stroke, and l-VNS is increasingly under investigation for a range of other neurological indications. Traditional l-VNS is thought to induce therapeutic neuroplasticity in part through the coordinated activation of multiple broadly projecting neuromodulatory systems in the brain. Recently, it has been reported that striking lateralization exists in the anatomical and functional connectivity between the vagus nerves and the dopaminergic midbrain. These emerging findings suggest that VNS-driven activation of this important plasticity-promoting neuromodulatory system may be preferentially driven by targeting the right, rather than the left, cervical nerve. Objective: To compare the effects of right cervical VNS (r-VNS) vs. traditional l-VNS on self-administration behavior and midbrain dopaminergic activation in rats. Methods: Rats were implanted with a stimulating cuff electrode targeting either the right or left cervical vagus nerve. After surgical recovery, rats underwent a VNS self-administration assay in which lever pressing was paired with r-VNS or l-VNS delivery. Self-administration was followed by extinction, cue-only reinstatement, and stimulation reinstatement sessions. Rats were sacrificed 90 min after completion of behavioral training, and brains were removed for immunohistochemical analysis of c-Fos expression in the dopaminergic ventral tegmental area (VTA) and substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc), as well as in the noradrenergic locus coeruleus (LC). Results: Rats in the r-VNS cohort performed significantly more lever presses throughout self-administration and reinstatement sessions than did rats in the l-VNS cohort. Moreover, this appetitive behavioral responding was associated with significantly greater c-Fos expression among neuronal populations within the VTA, SNc, and LC. Differential c-Fos expression following r-VNS vs. l-VNS was particularly prominent within dopaminergic midbrain neurons. Conclusion: Our results support the existence of strong lateralization within vagal-mesencephalic signaling pathways, and suggest that VNS targeted to the right, rather than left, cervical nerve preferentially activates the midbrain dopaminergic system. These findings raise the possibility that r-VNS could provide a promising strategy for enhancing dopamine-dependent neuroplasticity, opening broad avenues for future research into the efficacy and safety of r-VNS in the treatment of neurological disease.

Project description:Shensong Yangxin (SSYX) is a traditional Chinese medicine, which has been proven to improve the clinical symptoms of arrhythmia. However, the role of SSYX in metabolic syndrome (MetS)-induced electrical remodeling remains to be fully elucidated. Here, we sought to clarify whether SSYX can alter the electrophysiological remodeling of cardiac myocytes from MetS rats by regulating transient outward potassium current (I to) and calcium current (I Ca-L). Male Wistar rats were subjected to 16 weeks of high-carbohydrate, high-fat to produce a MetS model group. SSYX (0.4 g/kg) was administrated by daily gavage 8 weeks following high-carbohydrate, high-fat for 8 weeks. In vivo electrophysiological study was performed to evaluated ventricular arrhythmias (VA) vulnerability and electrophysiological properties. The potential electrical mechanisms were estimated by whole-cell patch-clamp and molecular analysis. The H9C2 cells were used to verify the protective role of SSYX in vitro. After 16-week high-carbohydrate, high-fat feeding, MetS model rats showed increased body weight (BW), blood pressure (BP), blood sugar (BS), heart rate (HR) and heart weights to tibia length (HW/TL) ratio. Furthermore, MetS rats depicted increased VA inducibility, shortened effective refractory period (ERP) and prolonged action potential duration (APD). Lower I Ca-L and I to current densities were observed in MetS rats than CTL rats. Additionally, MetS rats exhibited significantly increased cardiac fibrosis, decreased Cx43 expression and protein levels of Cav1.2, Kv4.2, Kv4.3 than CTL group. As expected, these MetS-induced effects above were reversed when SSYX was administrated. Mechanistically, SSYX administrated significantly down-regulated the TLR4/MyD88/CaMKII signaling pathway both in vivo and in vitro. Collectively, our data indicated that the electrical remodeling induced by MetS contributed to the increased VA susceptibility. SSYX protects against MetS-induced VA by inhibiting electrical remodeling through TLR4/MyD88/CaMKII signaling pathway.

Dataset Information

Intermittent electrical stimulation of the right cervical vagus nerve in salt-sensitive hypertensive rats: effects on blood pressure, arrhythmias, and ventricular electrophysiology.

Publications

Intermittent electrical stimulation of the right cervical vagus nerve in salt-sensitive hypertensive rats: effects on blood pressure, arrhythmias, and ventricular electrophysiology.

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