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Electrical stimulation of the cervical vagus nerve protects against renal ischemia/reperfusion injury
Author(s) -
Abe Chikara,
Inoue Tsuyoshi,
Okusa Mark,
Guyenet Patrice
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.1059.2
Subject(s) - vagus nerve , vagus nerve stimulation , stimulation , medicine , oculocardiac reflex , reflex , ischemia , anesthesia , peripheral , endocrinology
The inflammatory reflex acts via connections between the CNS and lymphoid organs, inc the spleen, to suppress the production of inflammatory cytokines. Such reflex can be elicited by electrically stimulating the cervical vagus nerve (VN) or merely its peripheral end. Vagal preganglionic neurons (VPGNs) do not appear to directly innervate the spleen, therefore an excitatory synaptic connection between vagal preganglionic efferents and splenic nerve efferents has been proposed. To examine this, we recorded splenic sympathetic nerve activity (SNA) and stimulated the uncut left VN in anesthetized rats. Electrical stimulation of the uncut VN (0.1 mA, 1 ms, 1 Hz) evoked a robust response with two distinct activation peaks (latencies: 109 ± 2 and 186 ± 5 msec). Stimulating the peripheral end of the cut VN evoked no response confirming the absence of detectable synaptic connection between vagal efferents and splenic nerve (Martelli et al. Auton Neurosci 2014). We also examined whether VN stimulation reduces ischemia/reperfusion injury (IRI) in mice. We electrically stimulated the uncut left cervical VN (0.1 mA, 5 Hz, 10 min), its peripheral end or its central end in 3 groups of mice 24 hrs before IRI (26 min). The three stimulation modalities produced equal protection against IRI as judged by a large and significant reduction of plasma creatinine concentration measured 24 hrs after ischemia. Conclusions stimulating either end of the cut vagus nerve protects the kidney from IRI, presumably by reducing inflammation. Proximal vagal stimulation may cause anti‐inflammation by increasing splenic SNA. How peripheral VN stimulation produces renal protection is unclear.